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BY 

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LiBRARY of DONGRESS 
(wo Oopie2> Recttivoa 

SEP. 1 1905 

Oopyriifni uiiry 
GUftSS^^ ^ AAc. m 

/7.J* d 7/ 

COPY G. 



Copyright, 1905, 

BT 

IDA HARWOOD McCALEB. 


All Rights Reserved. 


DEDICATED 


TO THE 

MEMORY 

or 

SALENNA REID GRANT, 


Whose many interesting tales of her own 
adventures upon the western plains first sug- 
gested this story. 


LEADING CHARACTERS. 

Salenna Granville, the heroine. 

Abner Roulleaux, her brother. 

Algernon Forresman, her son. 

Edward Granville, Salenna’s husband number 
two. 

Josephine, Algernon’s wife. 

George Randall, a trickster and Notary Public. 
Harold Le Barre, Salenna’s adopted son. 
Egiptia Morrison, Algernon’s wife number two. 





s 


CONTENTS. 


PAOB 

CHAPTER I. 

An Unexpected Announcement 1 

CHAPTER II. 

A Rumor 9 

CHAPTER III. 

Maple Grove 1ft 

CHAPTER IV. 

A Miner’s Story 24 

CHAPTER V. 

Abner’s Sentence 38 

CHAPTER VI. 

Salenna in Fashionable Life 45 

CHAPTER VII. 

Fate and Fortune 56 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Edward Granville Again 67 

CHAPTER IX. 

A Full-Handed Exodus 83 

CHAPTER X. 

Across the Plains 93 

CHAPTER XI. 

An Indian Raid 99 

CHAPTER XII. 

Man versus Woman 114 


iv Contents. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER XIII. 

A Shady Plot 121 

CHAPTER XIV. 

In a Flood 135 

CHAPTER XV. 

An Untimely Death 152 

CHAPTER XVI. 

A Friend in Need 164 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Salenna’s Midnight Adventure 174 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

A Startling Discovery 181 

CHAPTER XIX. 

**The Tree of Evil Bears Bitter Fruit” 194 

CHAPTER XX. 

Sunshine and Clouds 204 

CHAPTER XXI. 

The Dastardly Work of Fiends 213 

CHAPTER XXII. 

The Tragedy Claims Other Victims 228 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

An Unlooked-for Event 237 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

'A Fiendish Assault 256 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Egiptia’s Reward 269 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Fortune Smiles Again 279 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

The Last Deal 289 


TRIUMPHS AND FAILURES. 


CHAPTEE I. 

AN UNEXPECTED ANNOUNCEMENT. 

‘Tlease, Salenna, let us not quarrel now after 
nine years of peace and happiness ! It will only 
throw a cloud over the last days we shall spend 
together, perhaps for years! Be reasonable, my 
dear,’^ entreated a stern-looking, but rather hand- 
some man, to his beautiful wife, who sat just 
across the hearth facing him, and who bitterly 
opposed her husband upon the subject under dis- 
cussion. 

^^Quarrel with you, William 1 Why, it never 
occurred to me to wrangle with anybody in my 
whole life, least of all with my husband I If one 
does not happen to agree with every one’s else 
opinion there is no reason why they should quar- 
rel. No, I shall never qimrrel with you, but I 
most certainly can never agree with you ! My op- 
position is based upon love, and not because I 
would be perverse ! Do you not know that I love 
you better than all else in the world?” 


2 Triumphs and Failures. 

Salenna Forresman had arisen, walked across 
the hearth, and was standing beside her husband, 
and as she put the last question, knelt down and 
laid her small head, with its luxuriant brown hair, 
upon his knee, while her trembling, eager fingers 
sought his hand that lay upon the arm of his chair. 

^Tome, Salenna, do not act like this ! Of course, 
I know that you love me; I could not think any- 
thing else if I tried, and surely, you do not doubt 
my devotion to you ! I go simply because I love 
you and the children, and wish to make you com- 
fortable and happy, ^^and he laid a caressing hand 
upon her arm and attempted raising her to her 
feet. 

‘^^If you would make me happy, you must re- 
main with me; as for comfort, I already possess 
that, and what more need I wish? If you would 
break my heart, persist in this course ; if you would 
make me happy, give it up ! Oh, William, I am 
the most miserable of all creatures to-night !” 

^^Salenna, we must end this scene ! I cannot 
change my mind, and you are only making the 
task harder for me as well as making yourself 
more wretched ! Please 

^Tertainly, William, if you wish the scene 
ended, if a scene it may be called, I can surely 
bring it to a speedy close,” and she arose and 
stood before him, with dry eyes and a fiush of 
haughty, wounded pride upon her face. 

^^Don’t be offended, Salenna ! I only meant 
that I should like to have you give me your rich- 
est blessing and words of good cheer, instead of 
making wise prophecies and oracular speeches. 
Somehow, those dogmatical sayings of yours al- 


An Unexpected Announcement. 3 

ways upset me, and make me feel as if I were only 
an insignificant weakling unequal to even the 
slightest undertaking, for you have the faculty of 
reading the future so correctly.” 

^^Will you not hear one more appeal, William? 
Is all I have said in vain ?” 

cannot bear to hear more ! You cannot change 
my mind, and further protest only makes us both 
more unhappy ! You can manage quite well with- 
out me. I have great confidence in your ability 
and judgment. You have a strong mind, a spirit 
of determination and persistence. With all these 
qualities, why should you feel so badly at being 
left alone only for a short time? No man could 
equal you in any of them, I am sure. There, 
my dear, let that end it ! Let us kiss and make 
up,” and he moved toward her. 

She waved him back and hastily left the room. 
Her husband stood looking after her in surprise. 

'^Well, a woman will be a woman in spite of 
strong character ! But I do not know that I blame 
her. I suspect I would feel as if I were being 
trodden upon myself were I in her place. It did 
seem heartless in me to speak in that manner, but 
I could not bear it any longer without giving in. 
Perhaps she will forgive me when I am gone,” 
he mused as the door closed behind her. 

Salenna had just conceded a point which she 
had battled against for several weeks, and now that 
she realized that the last hope had faded, the 
anguish in her heart was so deep that she could 
not trust herself farther. She could not bear to 
remain and see him enjoy the assurance that he 
had no obstacles now in his way, while her own 


4 Triumphs and Failures. 

heart was almost bursting with the cruel knowl- 
edge of what her concession meant. 

William Forresman was very fond of his wife 
and children, and was altogether a kind and lov- 
ing husband and an indulgent father, but now 
that his mind was once settled upon this thing, 
not even the love of wife and children could divert 
him from his purpose. 

It was in the spring of 1849, just after the 
great gold discoveries in California. It was a time 
of great expectations, and a time of great fail- 
ures; a time of lofty anticipations and dismal ab- 
juration. Every man believed that the paramount 
opportunity of his life had presented itself, and 
that he must take advantage of the situation. 

The gold fever was at its greatest height, and the 
entire country was in a wild state of excitement. 
Companies were formed and equipped for cross- 
ing the desert, either with wagon train or pack 
horses. Others went by sea, boarding vessels at 
all points along the Atlantic coast; while in the 
interior, they took passage on steamboats and 
floated down the Mississippi river to the Culf of 
Mexico, there taking steamers for the Isthmus of 
Panama ; and after having crossed that they 
boarded vessels and sailed up the Paciflc coast to 
San Francisco. 

In fact, the excitement was so great and so gen- 
eral, it seemed that the very foundation of the 
domestic tranquillity and peace of our republic 
trembled, threatening to crumble and fall under 
the powerful influence of this great epidemical 
wave, which extended from the eastern shores to 
the western borders of our civilization. 


An Unexpected Announcement. 5 

William Forresman finished reading a glowing 
account of the rich mines so recently discovered. 
He folded his paper and turning to his wife made 
the unexpected announcement that he would start 
for the gold fields in a few days. 

They had discussed the subject upon several 
occasions, and Salenna had brought forth all the 
latent forces of her strong nature to bear upon him, 
to try to dissuade him from such a foolish course. 
But to-day ended the struggle ; his will had proven 
stronger than her philosophical reasoning, and she 
had consented to an act she instinctively knew 
would be direful in its consequences. 

William Forresman, with his wife and two chil- 
dren, Algernon, aged seven, and Mary, aged two, 
was living in the little village of Brighton, and 
was engaged in the mercantile business. He was 
in very comfortable circumstances and they were 
a happy family. 

Nine years had passed since he had led the beau- 
tiful and accomplished Salenna Eoulleaux to the 
altar as his bride, and this was the first time a 
cloud of unhappiness or sorrow had ever cast its 
shadow over their little home. But she only shared 
the sorrows of hundreds of others, yet perhaps 
there was not one other in the world that it would 
effect in a like manner. 

On the following day William Forresman be- 
gan preparations for his departure to follow this 
great wave of human folly. 

He placed all his property in possession of his 
wife, so that it could be managed by her during 
his absence or administered upon by her in the 
event of his failure to return. 


6 Triumphs and Failures. 

The first day finished all business affairs, and 
he eagerly turned his attention to equipping him- 
self for his journey. 

Abner Roulleaux, a brother of Mrs. Forresman, 
had decided to accompany William, and he also 
began preparations. 

Everything was now in readiness. Pack horses 
and wagon trains stood waiting at the doors of 
two-score homes. Fathers were bidding the last 
sad farewell to children, and wives clung hope- 
lessly to their husbands for the last time. Moth- 
ers in bitter anguish kissed the lips of their strong 
young sons, and blessed them for the last time 
upon this earth. 

In the Forresman home a very pathetic scene 
was in progress, pathetic in the extreme, because 
of the wonderful fortitude and courage displayed. 

Abner Eoulleaux had taken leave of his fa- 
ther, mother and sister, and had come to say good- 
bye to Salenna and her children. 

am so glad you have come, Abner,’^ she 
said, as she led him across the room to where her 
husband was bending in tearful silence over the 
children. 

He arose as they approached him, and she took 
each of them by the hand and looked long and ear- 
nestly into their faces for some time before she 
spoke. 

William, I wish you, and Abner also, to make 
me a promise. Will you do it?” 

‘H will promise you anything, Salenna, that 
I can possibly do, if it will comfort you any,” 
he replied, scarcely audibly. 

'To you agree to it, Abner?” she said, turn- 


An Unexpected Announcement. 7 

ing to her brother with feverish eyes and burn- 
ing lips. “Yon know I will ask nothing unrea- 
sonable of either of yon.^^ 

“I know yon would not, Salenna, and I give 
you my word to do anything I can to help you !” 

“It will be of no assistance whatever, more than 
to comfort me, but that means a great deal some- 
times.” 

“What I want is this,” she continued after a 
moment’s pause. “I want you both to promise 
me, that you will remain with each other for bet- 
ter or for worse; that you will stand by each 
other through life and, if necessary, die by and 
for each other. That will comfort and console 
me and that is all I ask from either of you. 
Henceforth I am to be my own counsel and my 
own guide ! I feel it, I Icnow it, and I ask for 
nothing only this trifle.” 

“If that is all, we can surely make the prom- 
ise, for we would do that for your sake without 
it! Surely, we will promise that with all our 
hearts,” replied her husband warmly. 

And there and then they made the solmen com- 
pact to hold fast together through good or through 
evil, even unto death. 

They each pressed a last, lingering kiss upon 
the lips of the one they both loved so well and 
were gone. 

After William Forresman h^ad passed on and 
out of sight, Salenna stood for several moments 
gazing in the distance where he became lost to 
her view, as if she would fain make the place 
where she had last beheld him a sacred memory 
to her. 


8 Triumphs and Failures. 

At last she turned sadly away and moved to- 
ward the door, but a new light shone upon her 
face, and a thousand strange emotions filled her 
heart. There was a sudden development of a 
strenuous nature — ^that had until this day lay 
latent within her bosom, — so wild and passion- 
ate, so strong and enduring, that not even the 
massive wheels of time could subdue, or the cruel 
hand of misfortune crush. 

This was the saddest day of Salenna Forres- 
man’s life. She loved her husband in a quiet 
matter-of-fact way, just as hundreds of 'others 
loved their husbands, as the natural consequence 
of the accepted fact of woman’s relation to her 
husband and her domestic life. Her husband’s 
word had been law and she had been content to 
follow it without question. But now it was all 
changed. She had been quite happy and con- 
tented in the past, for she had never before al- 
lowed her mind to drift beyond the narrow chan- 
nel of woman’s present sphere. But the change 
was forced upon her, and the chains that bound 
her to so weak and niggardly an existence had 
suddenly become as gall and wormwood to her 
awakened spirit. 


A Rumor. 


9 


CHAPTER IL 

A RUMOK. 

One day as Salenna Forresman was looking 
over her paper, the Burlington Record, her eyes 
fell upon an article that attracted attention at 
once. 

It read as follows: 

RUMOR. 

^^Mount Pleasant, Utah. — It is generally be- 
lieved on this section of road that a man by the 
name of William Forresman, from Brighton, Iowa, 
was murdered for his money, horses and cloth- 
ing. ,The supposed murderer is being tried for 
his life.” 

Salenna sat like one in a stupor for some mo- 
ments, while the great drops of perspiration stood 
out like beads upon her cold brow, and the pa- 
per fell from her hand and lay unheeded upon 
the floor beside her. 

She arose at length and began pacing the floor. 
For an hour she walked up and down utterly un- 
conscious of her surroundings, while the fierce, 
tearless struggle for self-control raged on. 

At last she found herself calm and collected. 
She then sent for her father. 


10 Triumphs and Failures. 

The old gentleman came with all haste, won- 
dering all the while what on earth conld be the 
matter, that he should be sent for this cold morn- 
ing. 

Upon entering the room he was very much sur- 
prised at the appearance his daughter presented. 

“Why, Salenna, what is the matter with you? 
You look like a ghost he cried. 

“Good-morning, father, she quietly replied, as 
she placed the paper in his hand. 

Mr. Eoulleaux put on his glasses and read the 
article designated by his daughter. He read it 
again and again. Then folding the paper he laid 
it across his knee and clasping his hands tightly 
over it, sat and studied the fire in the grate full 
ten minutes before he spoke. 

Salenna watched him with an eager, yearning, 
questioning expression upon her face, but she did 
not interrupt him in his mental abstraction; she 
allowed him his own time to form an opinion and 
express it. 

“Why, Salenna,” he said presently, “I don’t see 
that you need feel so badly about this little bit 
of print! There are lots of people in the world 
of like names, and it is possible, and quite prob- 
able that we have never seen or even heard of this 
man spoken of there until this minute. I am 
confident that this is not our William. 

“I should not worry myself over this trifling 
bit of newspaper gossip I I think we shall hear 
either from William or Abner soon. True, it 
has been ten months since they went away, but you 
must consider the distance and the facilities for 
our mail reaching us. Kemember that it takes 


A Rumor. 


II 


months for a letter to come from California here, 
should there be no delay, which is barely pos- 
sible. Now, my dear, don’t worry about this any 
more, but wait patiently till we have some direct 
news,” he continued. 

know, father, that all you say might prove 
to be true, but somehow, I feel that this man of 
whom the paper writes, is my husband, and I feel 
Just as if he lay dead before me! I have never 
believed I should see him again ! I shall endeavor 
to be patient until further information shall reach 
us, but I firmly believe that when we hear more 
it will only confirm this rumor,” she replied in 
a low, constrained voice. 

The two discussed the possibilities and prob- 
abilities of the situation at some length, then 
tactfully changing the trend of their conversation, 
Mr. Eoulleaux drew his daughter out upon other 
things, and soon she brightened up and looked a 
great deal more cheerful than when he had ar- 
rived only a short time since. 

He spent the remainder of the day with her, 
but when night began to draw near he returned 
to his own home. 

Salenna Forresman was again left alone and 
in the solitude of that hour, she felt the sting 
of her loneliness more than ever before. She 
watched by the side of her little ones that night, 
while the storm raged without. The wind howled 
around her little cottage and the snow fell fast, 
but the infuriated elements were not more vio- 
lent than the turbulent storm of emotion within 
her heart. 

Sleep did not visit her weary eyes until a late 


12 Triumphs and Failures. 

hour in the morning. At last when it did over- 
take her it was only a troubled slumber. 

However, when she awoke she felt refreshed 
and was thoroughly resigned to her fate, what- 
ever it might be. 

It was the third day of April, and still no 
tidings from the absent ones. That morning, as 
Salenna opened the door of her cottage, and the 
glorious sunshine poured its cheerful rays into the 
room and the sweet fragrance of the earfy spring 
violets floated in upon the breeze, suggestive of 
some other time, she sighed heavily and looked 
long and earnestly into the distance. 

“It is one year to-day since William and Ab- 
ner left us, and this is Just such a glorious morn- 
ing as I remember that to have been. That day 
with all its sunshine and flowers brought misery 
untold ! I wonder what to-day will bring,” she 
said to Algernon, who was standing near her. 

“Oh, mama, maybe it will bring back papa and 
Uncle Abner,” cried the child, delighted at the 
mere thought of it. 

“No, my dear, not to-day. They will not re- 
turn for another year. But perhaps it will bring 
us news of them,” she replied gently. 

“I will run down to the post-ofl&ce and get 
the mail, mama, if you will let me. Please may 
I not go? Maybe I will get you a letter,” sug- 
gested Algernon, who for the first time displayed 
an interest in his fathePs absence. 

“Yes, you may go, if you like, Algernon, and 
if there is any mail, please hurry right home 
with it. Do you understand?” 


A Rumor. 


13 

‘^es, mama;” and lie ran off in childish de- 
light. 

A few moments later Algernon returned, and 
as he caught sight of his mother, he waved an 
envelope above his head, and called out to her, 
^‘I’ve got it, mama ! Fve got it, mama !” 

She took the letter with trembling hands and 
looked it over. It bore the postmark of Sacra- 
mento and she recognized the handwriting upon 
the envelope. 

She broke the seal and read it. It was very- 
concise, only giving important statements. 

‘‘My dear Sister : — I am too ill to write 
much, but I feel it my duty to do what I can. 
William is dead, as I believe nearly all the mem- 
bers of our ill-fated company to be ! If I live 
to see you again I will give you details. If not, 
believe me your ever loving brother, 

“Abner Eoulleaux, 

“February 20, 1850. Sacramento, California.” 

Salenna read the letter again, while Algernon 
stood patiently waiting to hear something about 
it. 

“Is papa coming home?” he inquired in his 
childish way, with big tears in his eyes. 

“No, my dear, your papa is not coming home I 
Perhaps your Uncle Abner may come some time,” 
she replied, taking the child in her arms to com- 
fort him. 

“Why isn’t papa coming? Won’t we ever see 
him again? Will we always have to live alone? 
It’ll be awful lonesome, won’t it?” and he laid 


14 Triumphs and Failures. 

his curly head upon his mother’s shoulder and 
wept aloud. 

‘^Unele Abner will tell us all about it when he 
comes home. So we must be patient, kind and 
loving to comfort each other till he comes, my 
dear.” 

^‘Mama, why don’t you cry? Don’t you care 
if papa doesn’t come home?” he continued, as he 
noticed the dry eyes and calm manner of his 
mother. “You always look sad but you never 
cry like I do.” 

“I have known so long that your papa was not 
coming, that I have learned to bear the sorrow 
of it silently, Algernon,” and she gently stroked 
the boy’s hair and dried his eyes. “You must 
learn to be brave and strong and bear troubles 
without murmuring.” 

“Oh, I couldn’t never be brave and strong 
like you, mama ! You’ll allers have to bear my 
burdens for me, cos I can’t, you know ! You 
are braver than anybody I know, cos papa cried 
when he went away an’ you didn’t,” continued the 
child, with genuine juvenile confidence in her 
maternal greatness. 

“There is plenty of time yet to discuss the ques- 
tion of who shall shoulder the trouble of future 
years, my son. But I sincerely hope you will 
grow stronger and increase in courage as you 
grow older,” and she smiled sadly at his child- 
ish innocence. 

True, she was not so much affected by this let- 
ter as she had been upon reading the account 
in the paper, for she was so^ certain that her hus- 
band was dead, and she had already suffered so 


A Rumor. 


15 

nmch, that this seemed to her only a rehearsal 
of the event, and she was prepared for it. 
Therefore, Algernon could but marvel at her won- 
derful fortitude. 

She read the letter again and again, not wish- 
ing to lose one word of its precious contents. 
When she had finished, she sent it to her father 
and mother. 

The news that Abner Roulleaux had been heard 
from spread rapidly, but the few words he wrote 
concerning the other members of the company, 
threw a dark cloud over many homes. For many 
were the sad and anxious hearts waiting for news 
of their loved ones, and sad and lonely though 
they were, this news brought them no comfort. 


i6 


Triumphs and Failures. 


CHAPTEK III. 

MAPLE GROVE. 

Salenita Forresman now fully realized the 
condition of affairs and she at once settled upon 
a course of action. 

Fortunately for her, her late husband had, be- 
fore leaving home, placed all the property, both 
personal and real, in her possession, so she was 
free to act as her better judgment should direct 
her. 

She felt she could never endure living there 
where she had spent so many bright and happy 
days with her husband and little family ; for 
memories haunted her. Sad reflections would 
come despite her efforts to avoid them, and so 
it was that she decided to locate elsewhere. 

will sell the mercantile establishment and go 
out to Maple Grove to live. I cannot endure it 
here. I mil be only two miles out, and that is 
just enough to make it pleasant. I love country 
life and it will be quite a diversion from this 
monotony,” she said to her father a few days 
later. 

^To you understand such things well enough 


Maple Grove. 17 

to manage to make a living? Kemember that you 
must have an income! Money doesn’t grow on 
bushes just because they happen to be in the coun- 
try!” he replied, with a note of warning in his 
voice. 

do not expect the money to grow on the 
bushes, but I expect the bushes to produce some- 
thing that will bring the money,” she replied, 
laughing at her father’s fears. 

For several days after the transfer of the mer- 
cantile business, Salenna was very busy making 
plans for her new scheme. 

As soon as she found the time she drove out to 
the farm to take observations. 

The little farm had only a shabby cottage of 
two rooms. Set far back from the roadside in 
the midst of a beautiful grove of young maple 
trees, whose tops scarcely overreached its low roof, 
and surrounded by a wide, sloping lawn, inter- 
spersed with shrubbery and flowers, it was en- 
shrouded in heavy clusters of honeysuckle and 
Virginian creepers, forming a lovely picture. 

“With a pretty home built in the heart of that 
grove, where the old house now stands, what a 
delightful nest it will be,” cried Salenna in rap- 
tures to her sister who accompanied her, as she 
gazed upon the beautiful rustic spot. “Surely, 
the man who planned those grounds knew more 
about horticulture than he did of the worth of 
money. Poor man, how badly he must have felt 
to lose it all !” 

They strolled leisurely up the pretty shaded 
walk and through the grounds, but as they pro- 
ceeded, a sadness came over Salenna as she 


1 8 Triumphs and Failures. 

thought of how William had always admired that 
spot, and that he could never share its beauty 
with her. 

Presently she stopped in front of the house and 
examined the masses of vines creeping over its 
walls. They were fast becoming a maze of leaf 
and blossom and their fragrance perfumed the soft 
spring air. 

^^How sorry I shall be to destroy these vines! 
William has so often told me of their beauty and 
how much he admired them, that they seem like 
a living, breathing thing, ready to reproach me 
for the very thought!’’ 

^^Do not be so sentimental, Salenna I Of course, 
we all love those things, but it is absurd to at- 
tach so much feeling to so small a matter !” 

‘‘1 know I must not be weak and foolish! Of 
course, they must go ! We need a great deal more 
space for the new house than the old one occu- 
pies, and there will be no possible way of preserv- 
ing them.” 

‘^^When do you submit the plan to the contract- 
ors?” inquired Mary, anxious to divert her sis- 
ter’s thoughts. 

^Must as soon as I can ascertain about the land 
purchase I wish to make. There are only eighty 
acres in this tract and that will scarcely be a be- 
ginning. We must be off, Mary, to see Mr. 
Slater, else we will be late home,” and the two 
walked back to the carriage, entered it and drove 
over to negotiate with that person. 

The half section of land lying just west of 
Maple Grove farm, was owned by John Slater, 
and was still in an uncultivated state. Salenna 


19 


Maple Grove. 

had learned that it was for sale and she con- 
cluded to annex it to the little tract she already 
owned. 

can buy it very cheap, I know, for there is 
no improvement whatever upon it, which only 
makes it the more desirable for me. You ob- 
serve, Mary,” she said, with a wave of her hand 
indicating the country around her, ‘^that this lit- 
tle cottage sitting here in the midst of this laby- 
rinth of blooming beauty, is the only habitable 
place in this section. Well, I intend buying the 
whole thing, then I will be content to spend the 
remainder of my life in developing its utility and 
beautifying it. I can then live after my own 
heart and be happy in my own way i” 

^‘Live after you own heart ! Be happy in your 
own way ! Why is your idea of happiness dif- 
ferent from other folks? I thought all women 
derived the pleasures of life from about the same 
source !” replied Mary in surprise, for she had 
never heard Salenna speak like that before. 

^^Not I, my dear sister,” replied Salenna, spir- 
itedly. ‘'^Most women enjoy sitting down and al- 
lowing their husbands and fathers to support 
them and lazily accept the position of inferiority 
to man, and allow themselves to be his slave, his 
tool, his plaything, that he may toady when it 
is his pleasure and trample upon at his will! I 
am my own mistress and expect to live a life in 
the future entirely different from the past! The 
chief pleasure of my life shall be to achieve suc- 
cess, such as no other woman has yet done ! And 
I sincerely believe that my triumphs will be many 
&nd my failures few! I have the faith! I feel 


20 Triumphs and Failures. 

it in my bones!” and her clear, sweet voice rang 
with the bitterness of her heart. 

It was very evident to Mary Eoiilleaux that 
Salenna’s life had become embittered by the ac- 
tion of her late husband in leaving home and fam- 
ily regardless of the suffering and sorrow he 
brought about, and she pitied and did not blame 
her. She did not wish to carry the conversation 
farther, for with all her sister’s acrimony she 
knew that she still loved the memory of the de- 
parted one. 

By this time they had reached the Slater 
home and Salenna was lost, to all else save the 
prospective purchase. 

They were met by John Slater, the head of the 
house, Miranda Slater, his spouse, and all the lit- 
tle Slaters (the numeration of them being very 
difficult on account of the way they dodged un- 
der the bed, behind doors and scampered up the 
ladder leading into the “loft”), who were of all 
sizes, with hair ranging in color from the flaxen 
towtop to that of the raven’s coat, and skin of 
a very undecided shade because of the earthy sub- 
stance that had been deposited thereon from time 
to time, and eyes to match both. 

In the course of an hour, between the inter- 
ruptions of first one and then another of the 
children appearing cautiously from their hiding 
places, the curious inquisitiveness of Miranda Sla- 
ter between the undertone intercession to her off- 
spring, “to be quiet fur papy’s sake, fur you’ll 
skeer the lady plump away,” and the' stupid igno- 
rance of John Slater, she managed to make an 
agreement. 


21 


Maple Grove. 

'T! am sure, Salenna, that you will enjoy hav- 
ing those people for neighbors,” suggested Mary, 
banteringly, as they left the ill-smelling house 
with its disgusting human fixtures behind them. 

should enjoy more taking them to the river 
and giving them all a bath. An ordinary well 
would not afford enough water to do it properly. 
At any rate, I shall see if I cannot civilize them 
when I have more time. That’s all they need,” 
she replied, laughing good-naturedly. 

^‘You are welcome to the task for all me,” with 
evident disgust at the mere thought of trying to 
civilize that hopeless mob. 

^^You were certainly cut out for an old maid, 
Mary ! No one but a typical spinster could ever 
have such strait-laced, unalterable opinions as you 
do and maintain them so stoically.” 

“Well, if I were I have fulfilled the lot in life 
apportioned me ! I had rather be an old maid 
and have the unbridled abhorrence of those filthy 
creatures than to be anything else in the world, 
if I had to come in contact with them.” 

“I cannot say that it is pleasant to be near 
them, but they are human.” 

“Barely so, I think!” 

“We never could agree upon those things, Mary, 
and it is of no use bandying words. Have you 
any suggestions to offer concerning the new build- 
ing?” 

And they soon fell to discussing the new proj- 
ect from the foundation ,to the housemaid. 

A few days later J ohn Slater and Miranda 
Slater conveyed title to the tract of land for which 
she had negotiated, and Salenna at once submitted 


22 Triumphs and Failures. 

her plans for the erection of buildings to the work- 
men. 

Salenna had reserved all accounts when she dis- 
posed of the business, and while the building was 
in progress, she canvassed the surrounding coun- 
try settling them. She did not ask them for cash 
(for at that time money could not easily be ob- 
tained), but told them their stock would be ac- 
ceptable, and in this way she collected every dol- 
lar due her. 

In the course of a few months everjdhing at 
Maple Grove was completed and Salenna with 
her children removed there. 

She was more contented and cheerful out there 
away from the old scenes of her unhappiness and 
a quiet, undisturbed calm settled over her, and 
she was serenely happy. And each day she was 
more and more thankful that she had taken such 
a course. 

As the tide of life flows slowly but surely on, 
there are constantly rising before us new duties 
which we must perform if we would make our 
lives, as well as those of our children, useful to 
the world and mankind. Algernon had now 
reached the age of eight and his educational career 
must of a necessity begin. Salenna decided to take 
his early training into her own hands, so that he 
might remain with her and also to give herself 
plenty of employment during the cold months. 

Winter came on with its clouds and storms, but 
Salenna felt a deeper sense of security than she 
had ever experienced since she had been alone. But 
often when one feels the most sheltered and secure 
is the time adversity hovers the nearest. 


23 


Maple Grove. 

Before the flowers bloomed again the black 
wings of the Death Angel had cast their dark 
shadow over the home and heart of Salenna For- 
resman, and robbed her of a precious blossom 
which she was watching with such anxious care, 
little Mary; and a loving mother who had shared 
all her joys and sorrows through life; and her sis- 
ter, Mary, the companion of her childhood, her 
girlhood and maturer years. 

Little Mary Forresman was called away very 
suddenly and before Salenna had recovered from 
the shock she was summoned to the bedside of her 
dying mother. 

The anxiety and exposure of watching over her 
mother during her last illness was more than the 
fragile constitution of Mary Eoulleaux could with- 
stand, and a few weeks later she, too, passed away. 

Salenna, her father and Algernon were the sole 
representatives of the family, that is, so far as 
they knew, for it was very uncertain whether Ab- 
ner still lived, but she had become so accustomed 
to sorrow that she accepted it as a matter of course 
and resigned herself willingly to a higher power. 

The summer passed away as did other summers 
and winters, and Salenna Forresman prospered 
beyond her own sanguine expectations. Every 
hope had been realized and the standard of wom- 
an's capabilities idealized, so far as her own case 
was concerned, with one exception. 

There yet remained eighty acres of land within 
the boundaries of the coveted section that she had 
not been able to purchase. She had lately learned 
it was for sale and she made preparations to go 
to C to secure it. 


24 


Triumphs and Failures. 


CHAPTER IV. 

A miner's story. 

One morning Salenna was seated in her li- 
brary looking over her correspondence, when the 
door bell rang. She listened a moment and pres- 
ently she heard Sarah, the housemaid, passing 
through the hall to answer the summons. She 
then resumed her work and was soon so engrossed 
that she forgot all about the incident that had dis- 
turbed her. 

Presently a gentle rap was heard at the door 
of the library and Sarah entered. 

‘'What is it, Sarah?" inquired her mistress. 

“Shure, ma'am, an' it's a visitor. What will 
I do with him?" she inquired, turning a white, 
seared face toward Salenna. 

“A visitor! Why, Sarah, you speak as if we 
were unaccustomed to visitors ! Show him in 
here, to be sure ! Did he send his card ?" 

“Shure, ma'am, I knows we have a hape o' 
visitors, but none just like him," and her teeth 
clattered at the mere thought of the poor man 
she had just left at the front door. 

“Did he send his card, Sarah?" repeated her 
mistress, who was very much non-plussed at the 
strange actions of the servant. 

“No, ma'am, he jist axed fur you." 


25 


A Miner’s Story. 

“Well, send him here,^’ and the servant slid 
cantiously out of the door, casting an appeal- 
ing glance over her shoulder at Salenna, who was 
watching her queer actions in surprise. 

Sarah reluctantly returned to the reception hall 
where she had left the stranger waiting, and es- 
corted him to the library feeling all the while as 
if she were being followed by a phantom, and using 
all her powers of persuasion to keep her legs from 
running away in defense of her body. 

The strange-looking man stepped inside the li- 
brary and Sarah, closing the door behind him, beat 
a hasty retreat to the kitchen to relate her expe- 
rience to Bridget, the cook. 

When the man entered the room, he stood with 
hat in hand awaiting the pleasure of the lady, 
who was still at her desk. 

When the door opened she turned and glanced 
up at him. Their eyes met. He did not stir or 
speak, but stood looking straight into her eyes. 
She looked at him a full minute without moving. 
Then raising her hand she drew it across her fore- 
head, as if trying to recall something long since 
forgotten, buried with the past. Suddenly, with 
a cry of joy, she sprang to her feet. 

“Abner, my long-lost brother ! Is it really you 
and she threw her arms about him. 

^TTes, Salenna, this is what is left of me,’^ he 
replied, clasping her in his arms. 

For a long time neither of them spoke. At last 
Salenna unclasped her arms from about him and 
led him to a chair. 

“My poor, poor brother! What have you done 
to yourself to look like this?” she asked, scan- 


26 Triumphs and Failures. 

ning his face eagerly, as she stroked his dark, 
wavy hair, which was now thickly strewn witt. 
silver threads. 

have passed through the horrors of a hell 
upon earth since last I saw you, my dear sister! 
When I have more time, I will tell you all if you 
wish to know it. But I believe you would far 
better remain in ignorance of it all.’’ 

‘^Oh, no, Abner ! I have a perfect right to 
share your troubles, and will not be satisfied until 
I shall have learned all that has happened to you 
since you went away. Do not talk about it now, 
but just tell me when you arrived and how your 
health is,” she continued, still standing over him. 

‘‘I arrived in Brighton last night very late. I 
supposed I should find you there, but imagine 
my surprise when I went to the old place and 
found it inhabited by strangers. The strangest, 
wildest feeling came over me when a great, rough 
voice that I had never heard before, stormed fu- 
riously at me for disturbing him at that hour of 
the night. ^Oh, God, are they all gone?’ I said 
to myself. ‘Has Heaven itself deserted me?’ 
and I could barely refrain from screaming aloud 
in my anguish at the thought.” 

He paused and turned away to hide his emo- 
tion. 

“At last I made the old beast understand whom 
I was looking for, then he was more kindly dis- 
posed. He told me you lived in the country. I 
was too exhausted to come out here, so I stopped 
at the hotel until morning. Well, then I started 
out here, and here I am and that is all of the 
story. 


27 


A Miner’s Story. 

^'Salenna, they tell me mother is gone! Oh, 
how can I hear the consequences of my ' folly 
and dropping his head upon the table he wept 
aloud. 

Salenna soothed him as best she could, but her 
own tears mingled with his. 

A long silence followed. 

^‘Where are the children, Salenna ?” he inquired 
abruptly. “I am so anxious to see them 

When she did not reply at once, he looked up 
at her. He discovered the look of pain upon her 
face, but it was too late to retreat now and he 
quietly waited. 

‘'Only father, Algernon and myself are here. 
The others have gone with mother,^^ she replied 
at length. 

“Mary, our dear sister, too?” 

“Yes, Abner.” 

“Where are father and Algernon?” 

“Algernon is out for the morning. I will 
send for father to come to you at once. You 
see I never expect to allow you to leave me again.” 

Salenna despatched a messenger for her father 
and then turned to her brother. 

“You are very tired, are you not?” she in- 
quired. 

“Yes, I am tired, too,” and he glanced around 
the room. 

“Come into the back parlor and lie down ! You 
can be comfortable there, and I will remain with 
you, or leave you alone, just whichever you pre- 
fer.” 

“Oh, I would have you remain if you will ! 
There, now, that is all right. How, you take 


2 8 Triumphs and Failures. 

this chair right here in front of me, so I can look 
at you. You do not know how I enjoy living 
and breathing the air of civilization again ! You 
don’t know about those horrid mining camps I 
The loathesomeness of them sometimes disturbs 
my sleep/’ he rattled on, as his sister proceeded 
to make him comfortable. 

She then took the seat by him. 

He chatted away for half an hour, then his 
eyelids grew heavy and he spoke only in broken 
sentences, and finally was fast asleep. 

As Salenna sat and looked at the form of the 
sleeping man, she shuddered, and had it not been 
that she knew he actually lived and breathed, she 
would have felt very much as Sarah had told 
Bridget on her visit to the kitchen that morn- 
ing, that a ^^shure anuf ghost” had come to visit 
her. 

He did indeed look more like a ghost than a 
living man. He was only the shadow of his for- 
mer self. 

^^He is ill, ill unto death, and we have found 
him only to lose him soon,” she refiected bitterly, 
as she looked at the wasted form and wan fea- 
tures. ‘‘'We will do all we can and keep him as 
long as possible, but that will not be much or 
for long! Poor boy, he is only one of many! 
T suppose he will tell me all he knows about Wil- 
liam’s death when he is rested. Oh, if he only 
left some message for me, how it would cheer 
me I” and she soon found herself reviewing the 
past with more bitterness than she had done for 
many, many months. 

The happy assurance of love and protection 


29 


A Miner’s' Story. 

seemed to have a soothing effect upon Abner, and 
his sleep was as peaceful and sweet as that of an 
infant. He had just wakened when his father 
came in. 

Abner, you have come home to stay, have you 
not?” inquired Mr. Roulleaux, after the first 
greetings were over. 

^^Yes, father, or at least, I have come home to 
do whatever Salenna and you may advise. I am 
not going out on any more mining expeditions, 
thaffs sure ! I have had more experiences than 
were good for me alread}^ and I do not care for 
any more. No more mining camps for me, if 
you please ! This is a veritable paradise to me 
after all the horrors of the past four years !” 

The conversation drifted into other channels, 
and the time passed rapidly until the luncheon 
bell rang. 

Abner attempted to rise from the lounge, but 
was unable to do so without assistance. 

“You see, father, now that you have me, yon 
haven’t much,” he said, with a grim smile, as his 
father assisted him and led him into the dining- 
room. 

“Ever so little of one of our family counts a 
great deal now. Cheer up, old boy, and estimate 
your worth from a maximum !” replied his father 
cheerfully. 

When luncheon was over Salenna ordered the 
carriage, and she and Abner went for a drive 
while Mr. Eoulleaux took his afternoon nap and 
Algernon went on his pony to the fields with the 
overseer. 

“Which way shall we go, Abner?” inquired 


30 Triumphs and Failures. 

Salenna, as she stood ready to enter the carriage. 

‘^Go some way that is suggestive of peace and 
harmony, if yon know of any such place/’ replied 
Abner. 

^^Yon will take ns ronnd throngh Misery Lane, 
then take the road leading to the river,” she said, 
tnming to the coachman. 

^^That is the most inspiring spot I know; yon 
will enjoy it, Abner,” she added, as she entered 
the carriage; Samnel drew np his reins and the 
lively pair of bays pranced away. 

^‘Misery Lanel” he repeated. there any 

significance in that name? It seems to me to 
be snggestive of anything bnt happy inspirations !” 

‘^At one time it was all the name implies. The 
year that yon left ns, every home along that road 
for miles and miles was shadowed by the same 
clond of misfortnne that wrecked my own home 
and hnndreds of others. When the sad story is 
forgotten in the fntnre, the name will seem mis- 
applied, for it is a beantifnl stretch of road sev- 
eral miles in length, shaded on either side by 
beantifnl maples.” 

Abner sighed as Salenna ceased speaking, and 
his mind ran swiftly back to a little scene in her 
home the morning he had left her, and a grave 
donbt that amonnted almost to fear began to 
creep into his mind. When they had left the 
honse only a few moments since, he was firm and 
■fetrong in his resolntion to speak to her, bnt her 
allnsion to her sorrow had badly shaken him and 
he felt qnite nneqnal to it. 

^^Conld we go any other way bnt by the river, 
Salenna? I feel to-day that I conld not bear 


31 


A Miner’s Story. 

the sight of water ! The thought of it makes me 
chilly/’ and he drew himself together with a shud- 
der. 

^‘Certainly, there are plenty of drives beside that 
one! I only mentioned it because the river road 
is always beautiful.” 

They drove on in silence and presently the 
horses turned into Misery Lane. Salenna re- 
mained silent while the horses walked lazily on 
as if they, too, enjoyed it. She knew that the 
tension of Abner’s mood would soon relax under 
the charm of Nature’s beauty, which he loved so 
well. 

The frisky horses soon tired of their snail-like 
movements, dashed off at a goodly speed. 

“This is glorious,” cried Abner, with rising 
spirits, as they bowled along over the smooth roads 
beneath the wide-spreading branches of the stately 
maples. 

“Now, Salenna, I want to tell you my story, 
and make a confession. I think I will feel bet- 
ter when I have relieved my mind of the awful 
burden that has oppressed me for more than three 
years. Then, when I shall have told you all, I 
want your forgiveness.” 

“My forgiveness, Abner! What do you mean? 
I am sure I have nothing to forgive ! You have 
always been the kindest and most loving brother 
in the world! But as I told you before, I am 
ready and willing to share your burdens.” 

“Yes, I mean your forgiveness; and you will 
agree with me when you shall have heard what 
I have to say. I did not intend to be selfish, but 
over^thusiasm caused us all to commit errors 


32 Triumphs and Failures. 

that are almost unpardonable, even by one so 
generous p,s 1 know you to be.” 

Salenna did not reply, for the gravity of his 
manner convinced her that he was very much in 
earnest, and she listened in wondering silence. 

“The story I have to relate,” he continued, “is 
one that I could not write to you, for you could 
never have understood. It was far better that 
you hear it from my own lips and understand it, 
else remain in ignorance of it all. I am thank- 
ful that I have been spared to you if it were only 
for one day, for I could not bear to die when 
you did not know — when you had not forgiven!” 

“Oh, Abner ” 

“Hush 1 Don’t disturb me,” he said, lifting 
a finger of warning. 

“Well, you know all about our home-leaving, 
so it is of no use to repeat any part of it, but be- 
gin with our first experiences out. 

“A few days after our departure we reached 
Council Blufis, where William was taken vio- 
lently ill, which delayed us for some days. I 
tried, as did others, to persuade him to return 
home, but he only laughed at our puerility, as 
he called it, and our pleadings availed nothing. 

“Some of the party began to grow restless with 
the enforced delay. After great deliberation, 
much talk and many suggestions, both wise and 
imprudent, the conclusion was finally reached that 
we should sell our wagons and teams, also all 
unnecessary goods, and supply ourselves with pack 
horses. This we did and were soon ready to jour- 
ney again. 


A Miner’s Story. 33 

‘^All inspired with new hopes and great ex- 
pectations, we started out anew. 

is useless to try to describe to you the dis- 
comfort and annoyances we encountered in cross- 
ing the desert; suffice it to say, that after two 
and one-half months’ hardships, we found our- 
selves in the vicinity of Fort Laramie. 

^^Here some one suggested that we go into camp 
and rest ourselves and horses for a few days. The 
proposition did not fail to meet opposition, as 
all things are apt to do among so many. Some 
of the men wished to push forward with all pos- 
sible speed, and the company became divided upon 
the question. 

^‘William wished to remain. I desired to move 
on. William was obstinate; I was unyielding. 
So forgetting for the moment, the sacred vow we 
had pledged to you, we parted, and each went our 
own, sweet way.” 

Here he paused for a moment to collect him- 
self, and he gazed with weary eyes out of the car- 
riage window, across the beautiful fields, for he 
dared not look at the wffiite, expectant face of his 
sister, whom he knew was watching him so keenly. 
He then drew a long breath as if bracing himself 
for something yet more trying, and continued his 
story. 

“William and his companions moved on to Deer 
Creek, which is only a short distance from Fort 
Laramie, and pitched their tents, while the oppos- 
ing faction (including myself), resumed its west- 
ward march. 

“They had been there but a few hours, when all 
the men with the exception of William, and a 


34 Triumphs and Failures. 

man, Gordon by name, became dissatisfied with 
their delay, and decided to move on and attempt 
overtaking those who had gone on. William and 
Gordon were now alone. 

‘^At the end of two days William had become 
so much annoyed by his procrastination and also 
by his broken plight, that he suggested that they 
try to overtake their friends. Gordon consented 
to the proposition, and they placed everything in 
readiness that night in order that they might be 
off early the following morning. 

heavy rain fell during the night, but not- 
withstandi^, the two men began their perilous 
pursuit. When they reached the crossing of the 
creek, they found it so swollen by the recent rain 
that it was impossible for them to ford it. 

'^William was anxious and proposed that they 
make a raft to carry them across the stream. Gor- 
don objected. William was determined, and 
Gordon yielded, rather than consented to the proj- 
ect. The raft was made. 

^Tt was only large enough to accommodate one 
man and his goods at once, so William, the 
stronger and more daring of the two, decided to 
make the first attempt. 

^^When everything was ready he took his place 
upon the raft, while Gorden stood on the bank 
and watched him. 

^Tt moved slowly but surely along until it had 
about reached the middle of the stream, when 
suddenly the horses became entangled in some 
drift and in their struggle to free themselves, 
dragged William headlong into the stream. 

^The horses swam away in different directions 


35 


A Miner’s Story. 

and the raft was soon beyond his reach, so Wil- 
liam was left with no alternative but to swim for 
his life. He turned and made his way as best 
he could toward the shore he had left, but long 
before he reached it, he went down, and Gordon 
never saw him again. 

‘^The next day Gordon was riding down the 
stream, to pass away the weary hours of waiting 
(for there was nothing to be done, but wait for 
the water to recede), when he discovered the raft 
lying against the bank, with all the goods upon 
it just as they had been placed there the day be- 
fore. He bad secured two of William’s horses and 
he repacked the goods upon their backs and just 
as soon as he could cross the stream, started in 
pursuit of the company. 

^^About a week later Gordon rode upon the 
company, but I had dropped out of the ranks 
several days before, to wait for William to come 
up, for I, too, had become dissatisfied with our 
separation. 

'^Gordon gave his story to the Captain in de- 
tail, but he was discredited and arrested for mur- 
dering William. He was tried for his life, but 
was at last acquitted.” 

“Then the rumor of the Burlington Record 
was true! Poor man, how he must have suf- 
fered!” moaned Salenna, more to herself than 
otherwise, for she had been too deeply stirred to 
speak before. 

“Well, as I stated, I had dropped out of the 
company to wait for William. But after ten days 
had elapsed, I decided that he must have passed 
me and I moved on alone. 


36 Triumphs and Failures. 

‘^1 went directly to Sacramento, and from there 
to those hellish dens inhabited by human demons, 
the mines ! I staked out two claims, one for Wil- 
liam, one for myself, for as yet I did not know 
his fate. 

'^While there I met a member of our company, 
who gave me this story just as it had been given 
by Gordon. He had also learned that William’s 
body had been recovered by another company, and 
that all his money was upon it, which cleared Gor- 
don from all doubt whatever. 

“After learning of William’s sad fate, I re- 
turned to Sacramento, but when I reached there 
I was very ill. While lying there at death’s door, 
the town was flooded and I was left to perish in 
the waves, fortunately for me, however, a man 
whom I had met coming into town, missed me 
and came to my rescue. He landed me in the 
little boat just as the shack I had deserted floated 
away. 

^A¥hen I was able I wrote you a few words, re- 
serving the story to relate personally. Now, I 
have told you the main events, I never wish to 
go into details of the remainder of my stay. It 
was so horrible that I wish I could erase it from 
my memory. But I am here to beg your for- 
giveness for my folly. 

“I firmly believe that had William and I re- 
mained together, he might have been living to- 
day! I suffer with remorse, more than anyone 
knows ! 

“Salenna, will you forget that I have sinned, 
and love me again as of old?” and he leaned to- 
ward her, while his large, mournful black eyes 


A Miner’s Story. 37 

sought hers with a piteous appeal that went 
straight to her sympathetic heart. 

Abner, my dear boy/^ she said, tenderly tak- 
ing his cold, damp hand within her own warm 
clasp, ^^according to your own story you have 
broken a very sacred pledge made to me — one that 
I confidently believed you would fulfill; but did 
not William do the same thing? And did you not 
both repent of your sin and try to make amends? 

^^It was wrong for you to do as you did, but you 
should not take all the blame upon yourself, when 
as much of it belongs to others as to you, and 
perhaps even more. Had not William met his 
destiny in that instance, he would have done so 
in some other, for the Fates were arrayed against 
him. He would never have returned. I knew 
it all the time!^^ 

^‘'How, Abner,^’ she continued, still holding his 
hand,^^ if you really think there is anything to be 
forgiven, rest assured that you have it full and 
complete, and that your comfort and happiness 
will now be the sole object of my life.” 

^^You are too generous, Salenna ! You make 
me feel my unworthiness more than ever by your 
magnanimous spirit,” he cried, kissing her hand 
affectionately. 

^^Here we are back at Maple Grove, and really, 
I never saw one bit of Misery Lane,” he contin- 
ued in evident relief, as they alighted from the 
carriage and entered the house. 


38 


Triumphs and Failures. 


CHAPTER V. 

Abner’s sentence. 

The story just related by Abner had stirred 
Salenna to the uttermost depths of her soul. She 
pitied him for the terrible remorse he suffered, 
even more than for his physical condition. She 
realized that he shouldered all of the blame, while 
he really deserved no more than others, for she 
vividly recalled the refractory will of her hus- 
band. They were all overenthusiastic, as Abner 
had expressed it, and the responsibility of those 
calamities belonged no more to one than another. 
They were all at fault, and all that could be done 
now, was to patch up the follies of the past by 
entirely overlooking them in the future. She 
had always loved her brother dearly, but now he 
seemed doubly dear to her, since she fully realized 
the true nobility of his character, and worst of 
all the certainty that she could not keep him long. 

The following day Salenna proposed to him that 
they call in the family physician to take charge 
of his physical welfare. 

"But, Salenna, what is the use in calling the 
physician here? I am feeling quite able to drive 
into town and will enjoy it if you can accom- 
pany me.” 


Abner’s Sentence. 


39 

"If you prefer driving in, nothing could give 
me greater pleasure.” 

Salenna then ordered the carriage and they 
drove into town and to the doctor’s office. 

When Doctor Chestmore had completely ex- 
hausted his vocabulary of exclamations of both 
surprise and delight at meeting his old friend 
again and interrogations concerning his welfare, 
both past and present, he managed through all 
of the excitement to seat them comfortably. Then 
Abner proceeded to answer a few of the numerous 
questions and lay his case before the physician. 

"Now, I want to know. Doctor Chestmore, how 
long you think I can stand this thing? I mean 
how much time do you give me?” he asked when 
he had finished. 

The doctor looked quizzically at Salenna, then 
curiously at Abner as if wondering if he really 
was expected to answer those questions truth- 
fully. 

' Tell him the plain truth. Doctor Chestmore. 
It is best, I assure you,” said Salenna in reply 
to the doctor’s questioning eyes. 

"You mean for him to tell me what he hon- 
estly thinks,” interposed Abner arbitrarily. 

"As you will, you unruly skeptic !” 

"Same old Abner as ever. Three years in the 
wilds of California has not changed you a bit,” 
replied the doctor, laughingly. 

"Oh, yes, it has; but really I cannot say that 
it has been an improvement. One almost loses 
faith in both God and man in those earthly hells. 
The man does not exist that could live there one 
year without becoming wholly transformed.” Then 


40 Triumphs and Failures. 

breaking off abruptly as if wishing to leave the 
subject so distasteful to him, he renewed the con- 
versation they had just dropped. 

^^Well, what do you think of me, doctor?” 
think you absurd in a great many things.” 

^‘Frankness personified !” 

'^Didnh you demand it ?” 

didn’t demand a rehearsal of my character- 
istics. I think I know my mental state. I 

do not know whether you do or not !” 

^TTou have not changed in the past three years 
either, doctor. You are just as exasperating as 
ever,” replied Abner, laughing at his own defeat. 
^^But returning to my first question. What do 
you think of my physical condition? Tell me all 
about it.” 

^^With proper care you are good for another 
year, with the possibility of a longer period,” re- 
plied the doctor, trying very hard to resume the 
dignified air so necessary to men of his profes- 
sion, and which he had entirely forgotten in the 
excitement of the moment. 

^^What constitutes ‘proper care,’ in this case, 
Doctor Chestmore?” inquired Salenna, who had 
been silent all the while. 

“Diversion of thought in the way of agreeable 
companionship and pleasant surroundings, to- 
gether with a diet which I shall prescribe. That 
is all there can be done, and these can best be ob- 
tained by travel.” 

“Where would you advise us to go ?” 

“Anywhere that happens to suit your fancy, 
for the climatic conditions will make little or no 
difference with his health. I would suggest that 


Abner’s Sentence. 


41 


you spend the summer somewhere in the North, 
possibly at a summer resort, and the winter in 
the South. The more pleasurable you can have 
it, the better it will be for him.” 

'‘There is no use whatever in making such sug- 
gestions as that. Doctor Chestmore, for I have 
long since made up my mind never to leave my 
friends again. It would be impracticable, if not 
impossible for Mrs. Forresman to leave her home 
and accompany me. Father is quite too old and 
feeble, and Algernon is too young for the under- 
taking. Can you not suggest something else?” 

"It is neither impracticable, impossible or im- 
probable that I should do such a thing, Abner. 
If Doctor Chestmore advises it, I shall surely be 
guided by his opinions. There is no sane rea- 
son why we should not go if it is for your bene- 
fit,” Salenna said, without waiting for the doctor 
to reply. 

"Ah, Abner, when your sister demands, we 
hasten to comply ; when she commands, we swiftly 
obey, so fall in line, old boy, to do honor to the 
fairest of her sex,” cried the doctor, laughing at 
the look of chagrin upon Abner’s face. 

"Well, doctor, she has done nothing but pre- 
fer charges against and tyrannize over me these 
two days I have been home. And to save further 
trouble I had best submit to the feminine yoke 
for a while. So if she says go, why, I suppose 
go it must be.” 

"That’s sensible, Abner. Never fear but she 
knows what she’s about,” replied the doctor aside. 

"I did not realize that I have been such a tyrant 
before, but at any rate, I shall not change my 


42 Triumphs and Failures. 

ways so long as I am in the right,” replied Salen- 
na, smiling. 

When they le/t the office of Doctor Chestmore, 
Abner Eoulleaux had for the moment forgotten 
the terrible sentence just passed upon him. He 
felt a thrill of happiness at the thought of a long 
pleasure trip with his beautiful sister, and he al- 
most felt young and strong again. 

He was sorely puzzled to understand how Sa- 
lenna could manage to be absent so long, and to 
know whether she really could afford such an ex- 
travagance. 

As they drove home he could not refrain from 
asking her a few questions to satisfy his curiosity. 

‘‘Why, Abner, nothing could be simpler,” she 
replied to one of his queries. “I have a man- 
ager that is perfectly trustworthy. I am sure 
that father will be only too happy to remain there 
as a safeguard against possible neglect, and why 
should it not be easy?” 

“But the bank account, Salenna. Had you ever 
thought what a vast expense it will be for the two 
of us to travel for a whole year?” 

“Oh, yes, I have weighed it all very carefully 
and feel that I am quite equal to it. I shall take 
Algernon, too.” 

Abner leaned back among the comfortable 
cushions and surveyed his sister in wondering 
silence for a long time. He had, for reasons 
known only to himself, refrained from speaking 
of his financial conditions to his sister, and it was 
evident to him that she had no desire to speak of 
her own. 

She felt without looking at him, that he was 


Abner’s Sentence. 


43 


making her a complete study, and she grew un- 
comfortable under the magnetism of his gaze. 
She made an effort to draw his attention else- 
where. 

“Isn’t this a perfect April day? You know, 
Abner, I have almost forgotten about the April 
days, the month you and William left us. They 
all seemed so much the same.” 

“A perfect April day,” he repeated. “There is 
no perfection only in Nature inanimate. Only 
a few things perfect. Humanity will err; and, 
oh, does it ever lose sight of its follies?” 

Salenna realized she had spoken indiscreetly 
and she allowed him to lapse into silence again. 

Tinally he spoke again. 

“I did not know that William was worth so 
much money, Salenna. Had I known he was so 
comfortably off, I should have been more urgent 
in his remaining at home.” 

“William was not worth so much money, Abner. 
The property has increased in value since he went 
away.” 

“From my observations, I should judge it has 
increased in quantity as well as value.” 

“Yes, there is more of it, to be sure, but it has 
increased in value, too.” 

“How did you do, Salenna ? It seems marvelous, 
the progressive strides you have made in four 
short years !” 

“They have not been short years to me, Abner ! 
They have seemed to me four very, very long 
ages — ages filled with hitter sorrow and anguish 
that I fain would forget. But my mental facul- 
ties seem to hold as good in the unpleasant things 


44 Triumphs and Failures. 

as in the happier ones. But now that I have you 
back again, I can really be quite content and happy 
once more. In reference to your question: It was 
only a small wave of good fortune, intermingled 
with the bad, that I was having, that has made the 
difference. It was purely ^luck,^ as a supersti- 
tious person would call it."*^ 

^‘There must have been some management, at 
least, else the good luck would not have appeared.’^ 

^^When I tell you about it, you will agree that 
I accidentally stumbled in the way of natural oc- 
currences under existing conditions. You see the 
excitement of ^49, when so many homes were 
broken up, paralyzed business, and created a local 
panic for almost two years. It was impossible to 
obtain money in this immediate locality. When 
I received your letter I could not bear the thought 
of remaining in Brighton, so I sold out the busi- 
ness. In order to collect accounts, I took what- 
ever I could get from the farmers, and in that 
way I collected a great deal that would otherwise 
have been worthless. 

^^Then, by and by, the reaction came, and every 
dollar^s worth I then owned became worth ten. 
So you see it was only the result of Economic 
Law.” 

“You always had the happy faculty of explain- 
ing things just the way you wished them to be 
understood, my dear sister,” and Abner laughed 
heartily at her unostentatious manner. 


Salenna In Fashionable Life. 45 


CHAPTER VI. 

SALENNA IN FASHIONABLE LIFE. 

About the first of June, Salenna, Abner and 
Algernon left Maple Grove for the Lake regions 
to spend the summer. 

They settled at Walkershaw, a place that suited 
them quite well. It was a lively, pleasuresome 
place, and Salenna entered into the gaieties with 
all the spirit of her girlhood days. As AbnePs 
strength began to return he, too, fell into the 
ranks of the merry-makers, and enjoyed some of 
their hunts and excursions immensely. 

They had been at the resort now about two 
months. One day Salenna asked Abner to advise 
her upon a matter of expense. 

^^Salenna,” he said, looking at her in well- 
feigned surprise, ^^do you think for a moment 
that I would presume to suggest concerning those 
things when you are sacrificing so much for me? 
Whenever I pay my own way perhaps you may 
hear from me, but not until then, I assure you V* 

^TTou were always an absurdity, Abner, and I 
really believe you are a bunch of petrified incon- 
sistency now,” she replied, half reproachfully. 

^Tt is not inconsistent with reason that you 
should know better than any one else what you 
can afford, is it ?” 


46 Triumphs and Failures. 

^^Certainl}^ not, but I do want yonr advice.” 

^^You do not need the advice of a petrified in- 
consistent, my dear,” he replied, teasingly. 

^^There now, x\bner, do not be foolish! Yon 
know r did not mean to be rude. Please forgive 
me.” 

^^No, I won’t forgive you for there is nothing 
to forgive. Neither will I give you my advice, 
for you do not need it.” 

^^Well, I suppose if I were to get into a real 
difficulty, I would have to pull myself out the best 
way I could, because I ffio not need other peo- 
ple’s help.’ ” 

“^Not so bad as that, my dear. If you really 
needed me, I should respond at once.” 

^‘^Well, w'e are having a lively time here, but I 
think we would enjoy a change. It is growing 
colder here, and perhaps other places might be 
pleasanter. Since you are indisposed to offer 
suggestions, I will make an announcement.” 

^^That sounds good 1 Now, let us hear it.” 

^^We will start for Frankfort, Kentucky, at 
once.” 

“^^That sounds still better! I am immensely 
pleased.” 

^^Are you really glad to go, Abner ?” 

“1 am always glad to do anything that might 
please you, Salenna. How long will we remain 
in Frankfort?” 

‘‘^It all depends upon your health and the 
weather. But truly, Abner, I have spent the time 
here so pleasantly, and made so many friends, that 
I am very sorry to go after all.” 

^^The pleasant summer has been good for you. 


Salenna in Fashionable Life. 47 

You look five years younger than when we left 
home. You have cooped yourself up in that one 
place for so many years that I wonder you have 
not grown positively old.’^ 

realize the benefit already, Abner.” 

^^Salenna, do you know I believe that Jack 
Wilburn is dead in love with you!” 

‘^‘^That is another one of your absurdities, Ab- 
ner. I am positive now that you are petrified. 
Why, I am almost old enough to be his mother 

'"That does not matter to him. I do not thini: 
he ever gave it a thought. But he’s dead in love 
with you, j ust the same. He has an eye for attrac- 
tive ladies, regardless of their age.” 

^^Well, if he had no judgment in any other way, 
he could not but guess my age by that of my son I 

^^He is no spring chicken, himself, Salenna ! IL 
is as old, if not older, than yourself 1” 

‘H hope, Abner, you are not giving this bit of 
nonsense any serious consideration.” 

Abner laughed outright. 

^^Oh, you silly girl ! I was just giving his side 
of the story. No, indeed! I credit you with more 
sense than that.” 

“I thank you, Abner. I hope I shall always 
have sense enough to steer clear of such pitfalls 
as that would be. 

‘^^Since you have mentioned it,” she continued, 
‘^and seem to understand the situation so well, 1 
will confess.” 

‘‘Confess! To what?” 

“Yes, confess, or rather admit. That man ac- 
tually had the audacity to propose to me last 
night at the ball! I was convinced that his in- 


48 Triumphs and Failures. 

tentions were only mercenary, so, of course, I re- 
jected him. But had he been a millionaire instead 
of a fortune hunter, I should have acted likewise, 
for positively the man is obnoxious to me.” 

^^Didn’t I tell you that you did not need other 
people’s advice ? And say, by the way, is that the 
reason you intend going to Frankfort so soon ?” 

“Well — er — I — yes — that, perhaps, did have 
something to do with it. But it is time for us 
to go anyway.” 

“Not time unless you wish to go, Salenna. He 
need not trouble you.” 

“I wish to go, Abner, for he will remain here 
as long as we do, and I do not wish to be near 
him ! Besides, it is best for you. We will spend 
a month in Frankfort, then go to Charleston for 
a short time. We can then reach New Orleans 
in time for the fine winter weather.” 

The next day the Forresman party left the 
shores of the lake without any warning to any one 
only a bare leave-taking. Some people seemed to 
understand it, while others were left to w'onder 
at the suddenness of it. 

They spent a delightful month in Frankfort, 
then proceeded to Charleston. 

Abner’s health had improved a great deal. He 
was able to ride and drive with Salenna, and some- 
times accompany her to the opera, or some social 
function to which she was constantly invited. He 
had had only one return of his old trouble since 
they left Maple Grove, and he began to hope a 
little against what had seemed to him the irony 
of fate inevitable. 

“I should like to live for Salenna’s sake,” he 


Salenna in Fashionable Life. 49 

said to himself, as he recounted his physical con- 
dition. ^‘She is very clever, but she is beautiful 
and attractive as well. Her money is a good bait 
for pusillanimous fortune hunters ; and if I should 
pass away it would only make that matter worse. 
She is very capable, but after all she might need 
protection, some time,” and he made up his mind 
to try harder than ever before to live for her sake 
if nothing else. 

It was with great pride and satisfaction that 
he watched her social successes ; and it was also 
a special delight to him to tease her at will. 

Whenever she came to him, he could always tell 
by her expression whether she had the grievance 
of a new proposal, or the woes of too marked at- 
tention from some ^^abominable” man (as she 
usually expresed it) to pour out to him. 

‘^Well, what is it?” he inquired one day, as she 
entered his room, looking very serious. ^‘Another 
proposal ! Well, the only way out of it is for you 
to either become a contortionist or go into seclu- 
sion. I am sure I should not approve of either, 
so you must devise some other way of raising the 
siege.” 

^^You are unkind, Abner. This is serious and 
I wish you would not talk nonsense,” she replied, 
reproachfully. 

^‘Well, I won’t talk nonsense any more. ITl 
just talk straight out-and-out business. Do you 
want me to assist you in your flight? When do 
we start for New Orleans? I know we can elude 
pursuit, by leaving without his knowledge I” 

^‘Whose knowledge ?” 


50 T riumphs and Failures. 

knowledge of the gnilty man, to be sure, 
Salenna/^ 

understood you to say that you were going 
to talk business^ Abner/^ 

am talking business. Am I not discussing the 
very subject you came here to mention? I am 
wholly at your service. We will start for New 
Orleans at once and to insure safety, will ^urn 
the bridges behind us !’ Come now, tell me. Who 
is the culprit this time?” 

^^You are a beastly, bad brother, and I will 
not tell you one thing ! Nevertheless, we will start 
for New Orleans to-morrow,” replied Salenna, try- 
ing hard to be angry, but laughing in spite of 
herself, for the ludicrous side of the situation was 
just beginning to dawn upon her. 

In the six months spent in fashionable life, she 
had had no less than three offers of marriage and 
a score of men ready to fall at her feet had she 
given them one kindly glance. But Salenna For- 
resman was too real, true and womanly a woman, 
to look upon such things frivolously, and she was 
sorely troubled in spirit. 

Abner, on the contrary, enjoyed the novelty of 
the situation, as well as the popularity of his sis- 
ter, and he only caused her to feel it more keenly 
by speaking so lightly of it. 

^^Men will be fools, Salenna, and there’s no use 
in you feeling badly just because you have the op- 
portunity to show them what they are,” he said 
at last in a way of consolation. 

^The foolish world is not constituted wholly of 
men, my dear brother.” 

''You will not be a frivolous, thin-brained crea- 


Salenna in Fashionable Life. 51 

tnre, and that satisfies me, Salenna ! You are 
capable of judging the right course in an5rthing. 
You do not belong to the average silly, weak set, 
so do not worry yourself about those things.” 

^‘^You do not know me, Abner. I am the 
weakest of all mortals should the spot of my in- 
firmity ever be forcibly appealed to !” 

^^What do you mean? Do not talk nonsense 
to me, Salenna, but go on and have your maid 
pack for an exodus,” and he waved her from 
him. 

They reached Yew Orleans about the first of 
December, and stopped at the most fashionable 
hotel in the city. Before a month had elapsed 
the ^Tich young widow” (as she soon became 
known) was fairly besieged by visitors and in- 
vitations, and her life became more gay, if pos- 
sible, than it had been in Charleston. 

From all outward appearances, Salenna seemed 
to enjoy it, but (as Abner had decided), ^fit was 
hard to locate her heart upon that subject.” 

The season was at its height. A grand ball 
at Mrs. TrevaiFs it was conceded would be the 
crowning event. Fair ladies and handsome men 
would be present. Hearts might be broken, and 
the great tragedy of human lives might be ad- 
justed under the spell of the gay strains and soft 
melodies of music that molded the romantic hearts 
of the listeners, in turns as they came. 

Abner accompanied Salenna. 

‘‘"A'ou are a perfect dream of delight to-night, 
my dear. You will break somebody’s heart sure,” 
he said as he surveyed her admiringly. 


52 Triumphs and Failures. 

'‘If somebody does not break, mine/’ she replied, 
laughingly. 

‘‘Why, Salenna, how silly yon talk ! As if 
anybody could intrude upon your forces in re- 
serve.” 

"I was only throwing your own nonsensical talk 
back at you. You do not suppose that any man is 
going to break his heart just because he fails to 
make his flattery effective ?” 

“But all men are not flatterers.” 

“I should hope not, I am sure,” she replied, 
as they left the landing and entered the ball- 
room. 

“Oh, Abner, you do not know what I wouldn’t 
give if you could dance only one turn with me! 
We would be young again, then I” 

“That can never be again, Salenna. I am quite 
content to see you enjoy yourself while making 
such a sacrifice for me. Had it not been for you, 
I would not have been here to-night, so let us be 
satisfied with what blessings we have.” 

Before they had reached the middle of the room, 
they were surrounded by a group of gentlemen 
claiming dances and her program was almost filled 
then and there. 

“Who is she ?” inquired a tall, dark-looking man 
to the right. 

Abner overheard the remark and turned to see 
who it was speaking. The man did not notice 
it and went on. 

“I say, George, who is she?” 

“That is Mrs. Forresman, a rich young widow 
from the North,” was the reply as they moved 
away together, so that Abner heard no more. 


Salenna in Fashionable Life. 53 

^'She’s a stunner, isn’t she?” he continued to 
his companion, who just now seemed to be in a 
very abstracted state of mind. 

^^Rich, is she?” he said, without having noticed 
the last remark. want to meet her before those 
pesky rascals get her program all taken. You 
know, George, I have a great fancy for ladies with 
money,” and he gave his chum a significant wink. 

Just then the little group around her began to 
disperse, and a handsome young fellow, looking 
very self-complacent, led her away to join the 
grand march opening the ball. 

Edward Granville watched and waited, and just 
as soon as the dance ended, he sought an oppor- 
tunity to meet Mrs. Forresman. 

She acknowledged him graciously, while he was 
all devotion. There were only two dances left 
upon her program, and he hastily canceled them. 

Edward never left Mrs. Forresman’s side the 
remainder of the evening, only when compelled 
to do so, to allow her to fulfill her engagements. 
When she and Abner took their leave, he accom- 
panied them to their carriage. 

He lingered over her hand a trifle longer than 
necessary, so Abner thought, and he searched the 
face of his sister very critically to see what he 
could read there, but he discovered nothing. 

Salenna sat leaning back in the carriage as if 
very tired, else enjoying a complete relaxation. 

“Are you tired, Salenna?” he asked, after a 
moment spent in studying her face. 

“Tired ! Oh, no, not any more than usual. Why 
do you ask? Perhaps you are worn out waiting 


54 Triumphs and Failures. 

for me. I should have gone long before this,” 
she replied, very much concerned 

^^No, I am not tired waiting for you. I should 
have waited longer had you wished to remain. I 
enjoy those things, even though I am not able to 
participate.” 

am so glad you are not weary of your task, 
Abner,” she replied, and sank back into her dream. 

^‘Did you enjoy yourself, Salenna? I mean, 
did you enjoy to-night more than other times?” 
he continued, again disturbing her. 

“^Oh, I had a delightful evening ! I think it 
was not so stupid to-night as usual. Everything 
seemed more real and true to life. More real, 
human spirit exhibited. Yes, I enjoyed this even- 
ing immensely !” 

Abner did not disturb her again, and they rode 
on in silence. His mind was full of conflicting 
emotions. ^‘1 am the weakest of all mortals, 
should the spot of my inflrmity ever be forcibly 
appealed to,” words lightly spoken indeed, but 
they rang in his ears with a terrible signiflcance 
now, as he recalled them, and thought, too, of 
her radical views with regard to love, marriage 
and society, the latter especially. He had never 
before thought it possible for that iron- willed char- 
acter to contain a weak, unstable point, but the 
shadow of doubt now began to present itself to 
his mind. ^^Is it possible there is not one human 
being in all this world that nothing can prevail 
against him?” he thought, and he leaned back 
among the cushions with a weary sigh. 

When they reached their hotel, they sat and 
talked long and earnestly. Abner could not tear 


Salenna In Fashionable Life. 55 

himself away without saying something, he did not 
know what, but it was something — a warning, yet 
he did not know how to proceed. Salenna knew 
that something worried him and she did not wish 
to leave him while he was in that mood. 

^^Salenna,” he said at last, rising to go to his 
room, “I have enjoyed your social triumphs even 
more than I can tell you — a great deal more than 
you yourself have done, but be careful, my dear, 
that some of them do not end in failures.’^ 

“Why, Abner, what do you mean? You are 
paradoxical ! I do not understand,^^ she replied 
in surprise. 

“I mean, Salenna, that vou must not fall in 
love 

“If that is all that worries you, you can go to 
bed and rest easy. And please do not be so enig- 
matical again. Speak plainly when you wish to 
speak to me,^’ she replied, with a merry laugh, as 
she kissed him and ran off to her own room. 


56 Triumphs and Failures. 


CHAPTEE VII. 

FATE AND FORTUNE. 

The next month was the gayest of the season. 
Balls, yachting paties, and picnics were on the 
program of amusements. Salenna attended them 
all and x\bner joined them whenever he was able. 

Edward Granville always received an invitation, 
for he was the handsomest and j oiliest of the set. 
He always made it convenient to be near Mrs. 
Forresman at every opportune moment, as well as 
a great many, many times less felicitous, so a great 
many of the ladies thought, who watched him with 
jealous eyes. 

The ladies were not the only jealous observers, 
for Abner watched it all with a keen, jealous in- 
terest, but he could detect no especial interest in 
the dashing, handsome man by his sister. She was 
gracious to him, to a fault, but she was always af- 
fable and pleasant to every one, and he could at- 
tach no real significance to mere graciousness; and 
he soon persuaded himself that she manifested no 
more interest in Edward Granville than in any 
other agreeable gentleman. 

One day Salenna received a letter from her fa- 
ther, urging her to return home at once. 

Hf Abner cannot come now, leave him there 


Fate and Fortune. 


57 

for a short time and return to him later/^ he 
wrote. 

evidently is something very urgent, else 
father would not write like thaV^ she said, as 
she gave the letter to her brother. 

presume it is very urgent, Salenna, and we 
will go at once.’’ 

“Abner, do you think it advisable for you to 
go now? Hadn’t you better remain here another 
month ?” 

“Without you? Not much of it, my lady. It 
is only a few weeks until we should go, at best, 
and I shall go with you for two reasons. One is, 
that I will not allow you to travel alone ; another, 
that I will not remain here without you. There 
now, you needn’t raise any objection, for I am 
going to have my own sweet way for once. We will 
travel so slowly that the change will make no 
difference.” 

“I would not travel alone, Abner.. I will have 
Belle with me. I would leave Algernon with you, 
and ” 

“I will not listen to it, Salenna! I want to 
go home. It is best for you to leave this place as 
soon as possible!” 

^^hy are you anxious to have me leave here, 
Abner ? I am only staying for your benefit. Had 
T known it was unpleasant for you we should 
have gone away long since.” 

That unaccountable fear of some hidden danger 
had returned, and he spoke without thinking what 
effect his speech might have. 

“Oh, I beg yoiir pardon, Salenna. That was 
just another one of my freaks. Of course I have 


58 Triumphs and Failures. 

enjoyed it as much as you. What I mean is that 
I wish to get home and have our little family 
to ourselves once more.” 

^^By the way, Salenna,” he continued, ^^there 
is a river steamer leaves here to-morrow. Aren’t 
we fortunate to get the letter to-day? We will 
just have time to pack up and say good-bye to our 
friends.” 

“That is fortunate, indeed. But since our time 
is limited we had best utilize every moment to 
good advantage. I will give directions for our 
packing, while you go and engage our passage. 
Then, when you return we will call upon some of 
our friends to say good-bye;” and with this they 
parted, each one hastening to make the necessary 
preparations for their departure on the morrow. 

When Abner returned Salenna was ready, and 
they entered their carriage and made a few hurried 
calls. 

To Abner’s great relief, while he was out that 
morning he learned that Edward Granville had 
left the city to be absent two days. 

“This is one time, at least, that fortune has 
favored us ! Had that rascally Granville been 
here, he would have extracted an invitation from 
Salenna to visit Maple Grove, and the Lord only 
knows what might have been the result! I am 
so thankful he is away,” he muttered to himself 
when he heard the welcome news. 

“Granville is out of town for a couple of days, 
Salenna. We had best leave our messages with 
Mrs. Trevair, if you have any for him,” he an- 
nounced to her as they drove away. 

He then leaned back and studied her face care- 


Fate and Fortune. 59 

fully to see what effect the announcement would 
have upon her. 

‘^ery well, Abner. He and Mrs. Trevair are 
warm friends and she will be delighted to deliver 
any messages we may wish to leave/^ she replied, 
without evincing any surprise or especial interest, 
either. 

Abner said no more, for he was now fully con- 
vinced that he was borrowing trouble, and he dis- 
missed his doubts at once. 

The next morning the Forresman party boarded 
the river steamer and started for the North. 

When they reached their home, landing ten 
days later, they found Samuel there with the car- 
riage to meet them. 

‘^How is father, Samuel ? Is he well ?’’ inquired 
Salenna of the grinning coachman. 

^‘Lor’, no, ma’am, he ain’t one bit well ! Didn’t 
he write you he wuz sick?” he replied, in great 
surprise. 

^^Father ill ! Drive us home immediately, Sam- 
uel! I cannot understand why he did not tell 
me in his letter.” 

Samuel turned the horses’ heads homeward and 
drove hurriedly away, for he knew his mistress 
was greatly distressed by the news he had just 
broken to her. 

Mr. Eoulleaux sat propped in his easy chair 
beside his window overlooking the drive, and as 
the carriage approached he waved a thin white 
hand to them, welcoming their return. 

Salenna sprang from the carriage, ran up the 
steps and upstairs, and without waiting to rap 
entered her father’s room. 


6o Triumphs and Failures. 

father, how could you deceive me so! 
Why did you not write me sooner?’^ she cried, 
kneeling beside him and taking both his hands in 
her own. 

did not deceive you, daughter. I wrote you 
just as soon as I began feeling ill. The worst 
came afterward. I knew you would come at once, 
and it was of no use to worry you all these long 
days you were coming. Wasn’t I right? 

do declare, Salenna, you look good to my old 
eyes!” he continued, after looking his daughter 
over well. ^^You look ten years younger than 
when you went away.” 

Then came Abner and Algernon and a happy 
reunion it was. They all talked together, they all 
laughed together and, perhaps, they might have 
wept together, too. 

^‘Now, when you have the time to spare, Sa- 
lenna,” continued Mr. Eoulleaux, when the excite- 
ment had somewhat subsided, “I have something 
to tell you that will interest you, I know.” 

^^We have the time now, father, if you are equal 
to the task,” replied Salenna, drawing a chair 
and seating herself by his side. 

^Tt was a queer proceeding for me during your 
absence, but I was sure, that had you been here, 
you would have done as I did. You know Mrs. 
Le Barre, the widow, Salenna?” • 

^^Yes, father, I remember her. She was so pa- 
tient and good. She came of good family, but 
wrecked her life by a bad marriage. I remember 
her lovely baby, too. He was only a few months 
old when I saw him.” 

"It is about the baby I wanted to tell you. Mrs. 


Fate and Fortune. 


6i 


Le Bane is dead ! She sent for yon jnst before 
she died, bnt since yon were not here, I went in 
yonr stead. Well, she wanted yon to take her baby 
after her death. I took the responsibility npon 
myself to promise her yonr protection for the child. 
Was I right, Salenna?’’ 

^^Qnite right, father ! Had I been here I shonld 
have acted likewise. Where is the child? I shall 
go for it soon.’^ 

will give yon instmctions when yon are 
ready to go, Salenna,” replied her father. 

Abner Konlleanx sat and looked at his sister 
in silence. Was there ever a woman in this world 
with so large and generons a heart, and one who 
had so many ready to cast their bnrdens at her 
feet? He thought not. And for the life of him 
he conld not tell which was the greater, his ad- 
miration of her, or his pity for her. 

That afternoon, Salenna and her maid drove 
into town to secure the charge that had been left 
to her, leaving Abner with his father. 

When she returned with a great, bouncing 
handsome youngster of eighteen months, with 
large brown eyes, rosy cheeks and rosebud mouth, 
the whole household, from Salenna, herself, to 
the chore boy, was in a turmoil of excitement. 

Little Harold (for that was the child’s name) 
soon made friends of both Abner and Algernon, 
and even evinced a bit of friendliness for old Mr. 
Koulleaux. One by one he admitted the servants 
to his acquaintance, and therefore he soon became 
the idol of them all. 

Mr. Roulleaux improved slowly and they had 
begun to hope for ultimate recovery. Abner, too, 


62 Triumphs and Failures. 

had been quite strong, and Salenna was happy 
with the brightness of her anticipations. 

But at the most unexpected moment is the time 
when the most unexpected things often occur. 

One day, about two weeks after the return of 
his daughter and son, Mr. Roulleaux was again 
stricken just as he had been when his illness first 
overtook him, and before the physician arrived he 
was dying. 

This was a terrible shock for them both, but 
Salenna bore it bravely for her brother’s sake. 
She took him to his own room and after having 
made him as comfortable as possible she left him 
to attend other duties, bidding Sarah remain with- 
in call, should he need anything. 

^Ts Misther Abner sick, ma’am?” inquired Sa- 
rah, who was very fond of Abner since she had be- 
come thoroughly convinced that he was not a 
ghost. 

^^No, Sarah, he is not ill, but the shock has 
been very great to him. He will be better to-mor- 
row. You will send Doctor Chestmore to me when 
he arrives.” 

When the physician came he was shocked at the 
unexpected turn affairs had taken. He was im- 
mediately shown into Salenna’s presence. 

She told him of how her father’s sudden death 
had affected Abner. ‘Terhaps you had best see 
him,” she added, arising and leading the way to 
his room, followed by Doctor Chestmore. 

She rapped at the door and waited, but no an- 
swer came. She rapped again. 

‘^^He must have fallen asleep,” she remarked, as 
she still waited. 


Fate and Fortune. 63 

A third time she rapped, and upon receiving no 
response, she softly opened the door and entered 
the room, bidding the doctor follow her. 

Abner was sitting in the chair w^here she had left 
him not half an hour before, with his side toward 
the door, so that his face could not be seen. He 
did not stir when they entered and Salenna went 
up to him and gently laid her hand upon his arm 
and spoke to him. 

“Abner, it is I. Are you asleep?” and she 
quietly shook him, to try to awaken him. But as 
she did so his hands fell from their position before 
him and his head dropped upon his shoulder. 

For the first time since she entered the room 
Salenna caught sight of his face. 

“Oh, my God, he is dead, doctor!” she cried, 
wildly, throwing herself upon her knees, before 
the silent form of her brother. 

“Ho, no, you are surely mistaken, Mrs. Forres- 
man. Not dead! Only in a faint! Let me see 
what I can do for him !” and he rang for the serv- 
ants. 

They placed the limp form upon the bed and 
every effort of skill and love was put forth to re- 
suscitate him, but to no avail. He was indeed 
dead. The shock had caused heart failure, and 
Abner Eoulleaux, the last of the ill-fated miners, 
had ceased to be troubled by worldly affairs. 

“My sorrows cannot number many more, for 
almost all that was dear to me is gone. Surely 
my troubles will end when the last of our house 
shall have been swept away, and at this rate that 
will not be far distant!” Salenna moaned to her- 


64 Triumphs and Failures. 

self as she sat alone the evening following the 
double funeral. 

A few days after the tragic deaths of her father 
and brother, Salenna was summoned to town upon 
matter of importance/’ so the notice read. 

^^What can it possibly be ! At any rate I shall 
be obliged to go and see/’ and she ordered the 
carriage and drove into town. 

She went to the Probate office, whence she was 
called, and to her great surprise she found that 
there was a will to be probated. 

^‘My father’s will, I presume. I did not think 
he had property sufficient to warrant the trouble! 
Perhaps he thought Abner, being ill, would need 
what little there is to take care of him. But 
he should have had every penny of it without a 
will, had he lived to need it,” she meditated as she 
waited. 

^‘'Mrs. Forresman, you are the only heir to this 
estate, I believe, so you will have no trouble what- 
ever,” the Judge said, as he began looking over 
documents. 

^'Yes ! There is only the one of my father’s 
family left, and that is myself. But this was a 
very unnecessary proceeding, had my brother still 
lived, for we always could agree,” she replied. 

'Teally, Mrs. Forresman, you speak in riddles. 
I do not understand you,” said the Judge, looking 
very much perplexed. 

only remarked the fact of it being unneces- 
sary for father to have left a will.” 

^^Your father ! More conundrums I I am still 
at sea, Mrs. Forresman.” 

‘Tt is my turn to be surprised, Judge Elroy! I 


Fate apd Fortune. 65 

do not understand you! Will you please explain?” 

“I have not spoken very plainly, I will admit, 
but it never occurred to me that you needed en- 
lightenment. I see that you are laboring under 
the impression that your father left a will.” 

“That is just what I thought ! What other 
conclusion could I form?” 

This reply puzzled the Judge more than ever, 
and he looked at her in utter amazement. 

“Is it possible, Mrs. Forresman, that you were 
not aware of the fact that your brother had a 
fortune ?” 

“My brother ! A fortune ! Why, no ! I sup- 
posed he had only enough to keep the wolf from 
the door !” 

“He left one hundred and twenty-five thousand 
dollars, to be unconditionally yours, Mrs. Forres- 
man !” 

“It cannot be possible ! There must be some 
mistake !” she gasped. 

“There is no mistake, whatever! What I am 
telling you is absolutely true. Did he never men- 
tion it to you ?” 

“Never !” 

“That is strange !” 

“It may seem strange to you. Judge Elroy, but 
I think I understand my brothers motive in not 
telling me. If I do, he died with a contented 
mind, and I am glad I did not know.” 

“It was a strange freak, but perhaps it was for 
the best,” admitted the Judge, more to himself 
than to the lady, for he was puzzled. 

When Salenna Forresman left the office a 
strange, serene peacefulness had settled upon her. 


66 Triumphs and Failures. 

as of one who had performed a duty well, and was 
just reaping the reward — a reward of full and 
complete confidence and undying love. 

She had cared for him, and spared neither time 
nor expense, while she believed him to be practi- 
cally penniless, and she believed he had kept the 
knowledge from her to try her virtues. If so, he 
was rewarded ! So was she ! 


Edward Granville Again. 67 


CHAPTEE VIII. 

c' 

EDWARD GRANVILLE AGAIN. 

When Edward Granville returned to New Or- 
leans, two days later, he was annoyed beyond ex- 
pression, to learn that the Eorresmans had left 
the city. He called at the home of his friend, 
Mrs. Trevair, and there he learned that Mrs. Eor- 
resman had been called home very suddenly, but 
no one knew anything beyond that fact. 

He then went to his own apartments, and shut 
himself in to try and decide what was best for 
him to do. He was almost certain that success 
lay within his grasp had Salenna Forresman re- 
mained in the city another month, which she had 
originally intended doing. She admired him, and 
he had reason to believe that she was not indiffer- 
ent to his attentions. No, he would not be 
thwarted so easily! He must find some way of 
meeting her again ! He had no doubt in his own 
mind that had he been in the city when she went 
away he would have received an invitation to visit 
Maple Grove. 

^'There, I have it he said to himself. ^^What 
a bright idea ! I’ll write George Eandall, who 
happens to live in Brighton, and in that way I can 


68 Triumphs and Failures. 

find out all I wish to know. It’s lucky to have 
a friend in just the very place you want him! 
George is all right! He’ll find out all about my 
lady, and make some suggestions, too;” and Ed- 
ward Granville leaned back in his chair, and plac- 
ing his feet upon the desk in front of him, puffed 
great circles of smoke about his head, with an air 
of complete self-satisfaction. 

Before retiring that night he wrote to George 
Eandall making all sorts of inquiries concerning 
Salenna Forresman, her fortune, and so on, and 
begged him to help a friend to overcome this 
succession of contratemps. 

George Eandall received the letter about the 
time of the tragic event in the home of Salenna 
Forresman, and he quietly awaited further devel- 
opments. 

When he learned of the fortune left to Sa- 
lenna, he wrote to Edward Granville, describing 
the situation at length. 

^Gt is of no use for you to appear here at pres- 
ent,” he wrote at the close of his long letter. 
^^You must wait until her great grief shall have 
somewhat subsided. She is abounding in wealth, 
and enshrouded in loneliness, and after a few 
months, if you possess the right key, you may un- 
lock the door of her cold, quiet reserve.” 

So Edward Granville waited as patiently as 
a man of his temperament could do, keeping up 
a lively correspondence with his friend in Brigh- 
ton. 

One day, about a year after Salenna’s return 
from Hew Orleans, she and Algernon were driv- 
ing into town in the phaeton. They were jogging 


Edward Granville Again. 69 

lazily along, talking of the changes that had come 
upon them since this time of the last year, when 
suddenly the horse became frightened, stopped, 
reversed his motive power, and proceeded in that 
direction until the. phaeton was overturned, spill- 
ing them both out and pinioning Salenna fast to 
the ground, under the top of the vehicle. 

Algernon was free, however, and at once set 
up a lusty howl, for he believed his mama to be 
dead. 

‘Algernon, don’t you dare scream another 
time !” she commanded from her place of con- 
finement, when she could find breath sufficiently 
to speak. “Come round here and give me the rein 
that has fallen upon the ground, then you can as- 
sist me in getting up !” 

“I can’t, mama ! The horse will kick me. What 
will I do? What will I do?” and he wrung his 
hands and screamed louder than ever. 

“Do as I bid you ! Give me that rein ! The 
horse is quiet now, and will do no harm.” 

Algernon approached the horse, timidly holding 
out one hand toward him, and the other one be- 
tween his own head and the horse’s heels, as if 
expecting an onslaught from the animal at any 
instant, first advancing a little, then receding 
a little more, talking all the while in a very coax- 
ing, entreating manner. 

“Whoa, Frank ! Kow, be still like a good horse. 
Whoa, now. Mama, I’m afraid he’ll kick me. 
Now, Frank, be still, I — I — won’t hurt — ^hurt — 
you !” he continued, in beseeching tones. 

While the boy was reaching uncertainly for the 
missing rein, and earnestly entreating the horse’s 


70 Triumphs and Failures. 

good behavior, a horseman who had seen the ac- 
cident from a distance, dashed up, dismounted, 
and came to the rescue. 

Frank, the horse, seemed to understand that 
he had behaved in a very discreditable manner 
and he stood looking at the stranger as much as 
to say, ‘^111 be good now, if youll only help me 
out of this disgraceful scrape.’’ 

The stranger quickly reached for the rein that 
lay upon the ground under the heels of the horse, 
then turned and lifted the phaeton upon its 
wheels, and assisted the prostrate lady to her feet. 

Her hat was gone, her dress torn and her face 
so covered with dust that she was scarcely rec- 
ognizable, but when she stood erect and attempted 
to reply to the many questions put to her concern- 
ing her welfare, that low sweet voice could not be 
mistaken. 

‘^As I live, this is Mrs. Forresman!” cried the 
gentleman, in genuine surprise. 

‘^Mr. Granville, I believe,” she replied, extend- 
ing her hand. “I had not had time to recognize 
you,” and she actually blushed beneath the dust 
upon her face, at meeting him under such em- 
barrassing circumstances. 

^^How can I ever repay you, Mr. Granville? 
You have saved me from what might have been 
a very distressing accident, and I cannot thank 
you enough.” 

“A distressing accident might have been 
avoided without my assistance,” he replied, 
looking at Algernon with a feeling of contempt, 
whom he felt might have prevent^ trouble, had 
he not been too cowardly. 


Edward Granville Again. 71 

Salenna did not notice the frowning glance he 
had cast at her son, and he continued : 

‘‘If you will permit me, Mrs. Forresman, I will 
see you safely home — unless you wish to proceed to 
town,^^ he added, looking doubtingly at her dishev- 
eled appearance. 

“I certainly do not wish to go into town looking 
like this,” she replied, laughingly. “Yes, I shall 
go home at once, Mr. Granville.” 

Edward Granville gathered up her hat, which 
was lying by the roadside, gave it to her and as- 
sisted her into the phaeton. 

“Can you ride, my boy?” he inquired, turning 
to Algernon. 

“Oh, yes, I can ride quite well,” replied the boy. 

“Well, mount my horse and follow me! I 
will drive this ugly beast home for Mrs. Forres- 
man,” and with the same authoritative air he 
sprang into the phaeton beside her. 

“Which way shall I drive? I mean which way 
do you live from here?” he inquired, gathering 
up the reins as he spoke, while Salenna looked on 
in surprise and wonder. 

“When did you arrive in this neighborhood, 
Mr. Granville?” she inquired, after a moments 
silence. 

“Two days since,” was the concise reply. 

“I really never expected to see you again.” 

“I must say, Mrs. Forresman, that I have been 
well paid for my trip here should I do nothing 
but aid you just once when you needed it, for 
there are" not many ways that a man like m5^self 
can be of service to a lady in your position;” and 
he sighed audibly. 


72 Triumphs and Failures. 

Salenna was puzzled, and did not attempt a 
reply, for they had now reached Maple Grove, and 
the horse was turning into the drive entering the 
grounds. 

“^You will remain to lunch with us, Mr. Gran- 
ville,"’ she said as he assisted her from the phaeton. 

will not accept ^no’ for an answer, she added, 
as she saw him glance hastily at his riding jacket 
and boots. 

promised not to disagree with you, so if it 
is your command, I suppose I must obey/^ he 
replied, with a fascinating smile. 

do not ‘command’ you, but I insist upon hav- 
ing my way, this once.” 

“As if you didn’t always have your own way, 
my little lady autocrat ! Do you feel any ill effect 
from your accident?” 

“Not in the least, only the effect of dirt and dis- 
order, I think,” she replied. 

Salenna left him in the parlor and as- 
cended to her own room to make her toilet. While 
she was absent he lost no time in taking notes, 
and he regaled a great deal in his own mind, upon 
the good fortune nf that morning. 

It was only two days since he had landed in 
Brighton, and here he was, the guest of the very 
one whom he sought without any effort upon his 
own part, whatever. He had started out that 
morning, for a ride across the country, partly 
with the object of taking general observations, and 
greatly with the hope of seeing some one from 
Maple Grove, for he intended riding that way; 
but he had not dared anticipate such fortune as 
had actually befallen him. 


73 


Edward Granville Again. 

Salenna soon returned to the parlor. She was 
looking as bright and fresh as the merry spring 
sunshine, and all traces of her accident had disap- 
peared. 

Algernon came in from the stables, where he 
had gone with Samuel, to relate to him the shame- 
ful conduct of Frank and to extol upon their 
timely rescue by the strange gentleman, whom that 
audacious hostler had frowned so darkly upon, 
when he came to take the animal from his mistress, 
and they all lunched together. 

Edward Granville not only remained to lunch, 
but he lingered some time afterward, and when he 
at last bade his fair hostess good-bye, he knew that 
Fate had paved an easy entrance to the Forres- 
man home, and with this right established, he 
hoped to gain admittance to her heart’s affection! 

Salenna thoroughly enjoyed his society, and 
there were not many days that he did not find 
his way to Maple Grove, for with all his craft and 
mercenary designs, he had fallen desperately in 
love with her. But he was not the man to let his 
heart rule his head. He would never have enter- 
tained a thought of matrimony, no matter how 
infatuated by her charms he might have been, 
had she been less fortunate, from a financial stand- 
point. 

One evening about a month after the advent 
of Edward Granville he and a few other intimate 
friends were invited to Maple Grove to dinner. 

Edward Granville and Joseph Fields were the 
first to arrive, and they were shown into the 
parlor and told that Mrs. Forresman would appear 
soon. 


74 Triumphs and Failures. 

Salenna had been delayed in making her toilet, 
by the illness of her maid, so together with their 
early arrival and her own tardiness, she was un- 
able to receive them in person. However, just as 
soon as possible, she descended to meet her 
friends. 

Just before entering the parlor, she paused, and 
as she did so she heard her own name mentioned. 

‘H say, Mr. Granville, I believe you are dead in 
love with Mrs. Forresman,^^ one was saying. 

‘^ell, who wouldn^t be? To know her, is to 
love her ! Everybody either admires or loves her, 
or perhaps both,’^ replied Granville, dreamily. 
^^But donT think I am such a blockhead as to lose 
my head and make a fool of myself ! She detests 
fortune hunters, and she would be sure to brand 
me as one, dared I ever speak to her as I feel.’^ 

^'Why do you think that?’^ 

‘H heard her assert herself upon the subject 
once, while in New Orleans.” 

‘^Had you met her before the day of the ac- 
cident ?” 

“Yes. I knew them all there, and there’s where 
I lost my heart. Had it not been for business 
forcing me to come here, I would never have been 
in this place, for one parting was enough for me, 
although I do not believe she cared a straw then. 
But I suppose ril have to stand it! It’s unfor- 
tunate to be as poor as a church mouse, when 
one’s ” 

“Hush-sh-sh, she is coming,” said Mr. Fields, 
lifting a finger to his lips in warning. 

Edward Granville knew that Salenna had de- 
scended the stairs. His keen ear had detected the 


75 


Edward Granville Again. 

rustle of silken draperies as she stopped at the 
parlor door, but he feigned not to notice it and 
continued his conversation for her especial benefit. 

Salenna stood breathlessly waiting for them to 
change the subject, else to think of some way of 
escape without their knowledge of her presence, for 
she did not wish to hear their conversation, had 
the subject been a different one. But, finding no 
relief from either source, she made a faint noise 
to apprise them of her coming, and striving with 
all her might to look innocent, and act indifferent, 
she entered the room. 

Edward Granville studied her expression keenly 
when she came in and she felt it to such a degree, 
that, despite her efforts to be calm and self-pos- 
sessed, she was self-conscious almost to confusion. 

Perhaps, had it not been that he already knew 
she had overheard their conversation, the fact 
would have been less conspicuous to him. At any 
rate, when he was thoroughly convinced of its 
effect upon her he leaned back and closed his eyes 
with a self-satisfied air that became him well. 

Dinner over, the guests began taking their 
leave, but Granville lingered. 

^Terhaps he has something of importance to 
say,” Salenna thought as she noticed it. 

When the last one had disappeared, and Salenna 
and Granville stood alone in the hall, he reached 
for his hat and gloves, then turned to her and 
stood looking down upon her. 

'Terhaps you wonder why I lingered,” he said. 
'G wanted to say good-bye. I leave to-morrow 
night.” 

'^Oh, so soon,” she replied, with a little gasp 


76 Triumphs and Failures. 

of surprise, and a pair of wondrous eyes looked 
inquiringly into his. 

must go ! I dare not linger longer if I would 
spare myself — and — and — others ! So, good-bye !” 
and he clasped both her hands in his own, and 
kissed them passionately and was gone before 
she could utter a word in reply. 

She stood still as a statue, her hands (with the 
warmth of his kisses still burning upon them,) 
clasped before her, the very picture of bewilder- 
ment, and some other something indescribable. 

She heard his retreating footsteps as he de- 
scended the steps, heard him mount his horse, 
which the groom held waiting for him at the door, 
and heard his voice again, as he bade the servant 
a hasty good-bye, and rode away. 

She did not move till the last faint echo of 
the horse’s hoofs was lost in the distance, then 
with the dying sounds she recalled herself and the 
full meaning of it all dawned upon her. 

‘^Sarah, put out the lights, please. No, I do 
not need any assistance,” she said in reply to the 
girl’s questioning eyes. ^^Belle will be able to do 
duty to-morrow and I can manage until then,” 
and she turned and slowly ascended to her own 
room, and locked herself in, to have her thoughts 
all alone. But no one could even guess what they 
might have been, for her paradoxical manner was 
not suggestive of anything in particular. 

Edward Granville rode back to his hotel. 

“I have managed things perfectly so far,” he 
said to himself, as he sat indulging in a cigar. 
^Gf I can just be dramatic enough I will succeed 


Edward Granville Again. 77 

beautifully and he chuckled with delight at the 
brilliancy of his success. 

The day following the dinner party, Salenna re- 
mained at home, although she had previously in- 
tended making some calls, but she could not bring 
herself to seek the society of others that day. The 
solitude of her own room was best suited to her 
mood. 

As she sat alone that afternoon gazing out upon 
the slowly sinking sun, and watching the fast dying 
day, the oppression of her terrible loneliness had 
never been so great. It seemed that so surely as 
that day was fast passing into eternal rest, so 
fast and so surely was she drifting out upon lifers 
tempestuous sea, alone, unloved and forgotten, as 
the weight of long, dreary years added themselves 
to her number. 

‘^Yes, I am alone — alone, unloved and uncared 
for, in a cold cruel world, because of the follies 
of youth,” she murmured, sadly. ^‘The saddest of 
all my life is Vhat might have been,’ ” and she 
sighed wearily as she lay her head upon the 
table and was soon lost in thought. 

Presently there was a gentle rap upon the door 
and Sarah entered. 

visitor, ma’am,” she said, holding out a card 
she held in her hand. 

^^Lay it upon the desk, Sarah,” she replied. 
‘'Tell the visitor I will be down presently,” she 
added, still looking out of the window. 

When the servant had passed out and closed the 
door, Salenna arose and began preparing to go 
down without even looking at the card to see 
whom she was to meet. 


7$ Triumphs and Failures. 

A few moments later she descended the stairs 
and entered the parlor. 

Edward Granville, looking very much dispir- 
ited, arose to meet her. 

^^Why, Mr. Granville, I thought you were drift- 
ing dovm the Mississippi hours ago I” she said, in 
genuine surprise, as she extended her hand. 

“I beg your pardon, Mrs. Forresman, for this 
intrusion. I should have been ‘drifting down the 
Mississippi’ long, long ago, but the boat was sev- 
eral hours late and I could not resist the tempta- 
tion of seeing you again ! Have I done wrong ?” 
and he stood holding her hand in both his own, 
and looking down upon her, with all the soul he 
possessed (which was not very much at best,) in 
his eyes. 

“Yes, Mr. Granville, you have done very, very 
wrong. You ran away from "temptation/ as you 
choose to call it, last night, and it is very unwise 
for you to thrust yourself into its path again,” 
she replied, looking very serious. 

He led her to a seat upon the sofa, and sat 
down beside her. 

“Fair goddess of wisdom,” he cried, bantering- 
ly, “had you been in Eve’s place, you would have 
never cast a curse upon mankind by yielding to 
the temptation of eating fruit forbidden !” 

“If I had my mind settled upon a thing I am 
quite sure I shouldn’t change it!” 

“Have you ever heard the saying, that ‘a wise 
man changes his mind but a fool neveF ?” 

“Oh, you egotistical man. No one but a full- 
fledged ego would make use of such vain expres- 
sions 1” 


79 


Edward Granville Again. 

deny the charge. I am only trying to prove 
to you that I am not a fool, just because I changed 
my mind, when seeing again the loveliest of 
women was the price.” 

‘^1 find that nearly all men are as capable of 
flattery, as they are incompetent to keep good 
resolutions.” 

Edward did not reply to this thrust, but rose 
from his seat and walked over to the window, and 
stood looking out upon the beautiful lawn. After 
a few moments of utter silence, he returned and 
stood before her, where she still sat upon the 
sofa toying with the fringe upon it. 

She did not look up or speak, but waited to hear 
what he had to say in defense. 

“Why are you so hard upon me, Mrs. Forres- 
man?” he said at last. “Had I known you were 
capable of such cruelty, I should never have re- 
turned here, let the cost have been what it would ! 
Ah, Salenna, you have never loved some one with 
all your heart and soul, and been placed in such 
circumstances that you dare not speak, else you 
would have more pity !” 

“That is not for you to say, Mr. Granville. 
Remember that a woman’s heart might break for 
the love of some one, yet the iron rules of our 
present social system would not permit her to 
speak !” 

haven’t anything to do with the social sys- 
tem, and why are you so hard upon me?” 

H was only replying to your own argument in 
that case, Mr. Granville. But I detest flattery 
in any form, so please never do it again!” 

“This short interview has given me more pain 


8c Triumphs and Failures. 

than pleasure, and I presume it has been quite as 
unpleasant for you, so I will end it at once! I 
will bid you good-bye, and may God bless you ! 
I will not trouble you again,^^ and he strode out 
of the room without even touching her hand in 
parting. 

She sprang to her feet as if to detain him, but 
he had disappeared through the doorway. 

^^Edwardr^ she murmured, and sank upon the 
sofa, and buried her face among the pillows' 

The name was uttered softly, but it reached his 
ears, and he quickly responded to it. He knelt 
beside her, and took her hand in his own. 

^^Salenna, I know you think me a weak, cow- 
ardly wretch, but tell me — how can I leave you like 
this ? I love you better than all else in the world, 
and I — I half believe you care a little for me I 
Shall I leave you now? I will go at once if you 
bid me. But please tell me this much before I go. 
Will you care a little when I am gone? Will you 
think kindly of me ? Look at me and tell me and 
his soft, mellow voice died away in a kind of 
pathos that was touching. 

He thought she was weeping, but Salenna For- 
resman was not given to such weaknesses, a fact 
which he had not learned as yet. 

Presently she looked up at him with her beau- 
tiful eyes full of candor and meaning. 

‘’^Yes, Edward, I cared a great deal last night 
when you left me; I cared very much when you 
left me just now; and I shall care a great deal 
more when you shall leave me again ! I shall al- 
ways think kindly of you, so long as you shall 


Edward Granville Again. 8i 

deserve it” she replied, without withdrawing her 
hand. 

‘^^Shall I leave you now, Salenna?” 

‘^You said you would go when I bade you. Have 
I given that command?’^ she replied laughingly, 
as she made room for him upon the sofa beside 
her. 

He caught her in his arms and held her to his 
heart. 

“Salenna, do you love me? If you do, you are 
mine by the divine right of Heaven ! I swear it 

“I love you, Edward, more than I can tell 
you ! I believe 1 have always cared for you,^^ she 
whispered, as two arms went round his neck. 

‘‘1 tried to leave you, Salenna, because my pride 
prescribed it, but my heart overruled my pride 
for once ! I feared you would brand me as a 
selfish villain should I come to you with nothing 
to offer but my love. But a man without money 
may have a heart with as strong emotions as 
though he were a Croesus \” 

^^Hush, Edward, I cannot bear to hear you talk 
like that. Do you suppose I did not witness the 
battle between your wretched pride and your true 
manly principles? But I could only let you de- 
cide for yourself.” 

^^Yes, I know. Then you are to be my own 
sweet wife! How long before I can claim you, 
all for my own?” 

^^Not all for your own, Edward! Remember 
that I have a son whom I love dearly.” 

Edward Granville bit his lip and had Salenna 
been observing very closely just then she might 
have seen a dark scowl upon his handsome face, 


82 Triumphs and Failufcs. 

for he was desperately in love with her, and he 
did not feel just then that he cared to have a dis- 
tribution of her affection, but he wisely held his 
peace. She did not notice, however, and he went 
on. 

^^Of course I shall remember that, Salenna. 
But you know the love that a mother has for her 
own children is not of the same nature that a 
woman bestows upon her husband.” 

know it, Edward, but I just wanted to re- 
mind you in time.” 

also want to remind you, that the boat will 
leave if you do not hasten away,” she continued 
laughingly. 

^^You haven’t bidden me go yet, Salenna,” he 
said, drawing her closer to him. 

“And I never will, Edward;” and she faith- 
fully kept her word. 


A Full-Handed Exodus. 


83 


CHAPTEE IX. 

A FULL-HANDED EXODUS. 

It was in the month of June that Edward Gran- 
ville led the rich and beautiful Mrs. Forresman 
to the altar. People, both rational and impru- 
dent, wisely shook their heads and some of them 
unwisely wagged their tongues, when it became 
known. But what other people thought or even 
what they said mattered little to Salenna. 

She was serenely happy and he was evidently 
well pleased with himself and the way the world 
had served him. 

He had played his cards well. His bride be- 
lieved him to be the very soul of honor, and she 
loved him, too; of that he was certain. There 
was only one obstacle now to overcome. He real- 
ized that he had a very strong-minded, self-willed 
woman to contend with, — one who was thoroughly 
capable of steering her own boat, and he had 
no doubt but that she would insist upon steering 
it, too, even though she had a husband who 
would be willing to relieve her of the task. 

Salenna, on the other hand, thought little if 
anything about those things. It had never oc- 
curred to her that anybody would dare gainsay 
her supremacy. She had no other thought than 


84 Triumphs and Failures. 

that she should enjoy the same freedom that had 
been hers for so many years, and go on directing 
her own affairs in the future, as she had done in 
the past. She was very much in love with her 
husband, but she was also in love with her free- 
dom, and it was quite evident that he would not 
gain ascendency over her without strenuous ef- 
forts on his own part. 

It was in this manner that the daily life of the 
newly-wedded pair began, one with strong and 
determined resolutions to rule, by kindness if 
possible, if not, then by any other means available ; 
the other with a quiet, self-confident air of au- 
thority and superiority of address that almost for- 
bade opposition. But before the end of the first 
year they both had learned many lessons, in fact, 
had made many discoveries. 

Edward Granville had discovered that his wife 
was not only capable of ^^paddling her own canoe,” 
but that she also had the determination of spirit 
to do it, regardless of what he should have to say 
in the matter, and he had also learned that if he 
ever expected to gain control of her fortune, he 
would have to adopt bolder and more decisive 
measures than he had employed heretofore. 

Salenna had come to understand a few things, 
too. Little by little she had accepted the belief 
that her fortune had had as many charms for her 
husband as she herself had possessed, if not really 
more, for she had learned so much of his selfish 
nature that she believed he would never have bur- 
dened himself with matrimony had not the bread 
and butter question already been settled. And fur- 
ther, she had discovered his passionate desire to 


A Full-Handed Exodus. 


85 

rule and usurp if possible, but with it all she loved 
him more devotedly than ever, and she still be- 
lieved that he loved her, too. 

Edward Granville was quite desperate over the 
existing state of affairs, and he began to unmask 
and do things boldly. Whenever Mrs. Granville 
gave an order, it was sure to be countermanded 
by him, and another one given in its stead, until 
the poor servants scarcely knew which way to 
turn, lest they give offense. 

At first Mrs. Granville took but little notice of 
these things, but in time they became so annoying 
as to be positively unbearable, and she gave her 
husband to understand that she was her own mis- 
tress, and of the servants likewise; her word was 
law and they must obey it. 

“Salenna, I am astonished beyond expression 
at your conduct toward me ! You will cause the 
servants to hold me in utter contempt,"^ he said, 
for he had decided it was best to be reproachful, 
rather than angry. 

^W^hy need you be astonished, Edward? Your 
own conduct is unwarrantable ! You know that 
I am not accustomed to having my orders coun- 
termanded and my servants disobey me! I do 
not interfere with your affairs, and why should 
you with mine? 1 will not have my servants dis- 
obey me, and 3 ''Ou will take the part of wisdom 
and not attempt having them do so !” she replied 
spiritedly. 

^^But, Salenna, would you have the servants 
disrespect me?” 

^^That is merely incidental, Edward, and not 
the end desired ! Most .-’ertainly I would not have 


86 Triumphs and Failures. 

it so! It is only the natural result of your own 
actions 

^‘Well, let us not have a wrangle over this, Sa- 
lenna ! We love each other too much to quarrel, 
don’t we?” and he took her in his arms and tried 
to kiss away the cloud of rebellion that had set- 
tled upon her beautiful brow. 

^*1 should hope we did, Edward 1 I have never 
quarreled with anyone in my whole life, and I 
should certainly not want to begin with you,” she 
replied. 

“You know I love you, Edward,” she added, as 
her arms stole around his neck, and she pressed a 
long, lingering kiss upon his lips. 

“I believe you do really love me, Salenna,” he 
replied, and the words came from the bottom of 
his heart. He was sure she loved him, yea, even 
almost worshipped him, and his conscience smote 
him as he looked into her beautiful, faultless eyes, 
that sought his for the confirmation of his words. 

After this Edward Granville did not have the 
courage to assert himself so conspicuously as be- 
fore, and it was only little by little that he gained 
any control at all. 

So things moved along at Maple Grove in much 
the same old way, with now and then a slight dis- 
turbance, for about three years, and as yet the 
ambitious husband had gained nothing worthy of 
consideration, and his avaricious spirit was con- 
stantly chafed almost to open war, under the dis- 
appointment he suffered. 

At last he decided that he could no longer en- 
dure the strain, so he deliberately planned a 
scheme for his own relief, that was daring in the 


A Full-Handed Exodus. 


87 


extreme, but he trusted wholly to the pride of his 
wife to avoid any bad consequences. He knew 
that she would bear almost anything for the sake 
of their little daughter, who was now two years 
of age, and upon this frail foundation he built his 
miscreant hopes. 

One day he made the announcement of his in- 
tention of starting for Colorado at once. 

‘‘Why, Edward, what can possibly be your mo- 
tive in going there? My experiences with West- 
ern adventures have been so terrible that I shud- 
der at the mention of such things cried Salenna, 
in surprise and anxiety, when he made the start- 
ling announcement. 

“Oh, you need not worry about bad experiences 
in this case, Salenna, for I shall go directly to 
Denver, and that will not be so bad,” he replied. 
“I have always had a desire to visit that place, and 
there is nothing whatever to keep me here.” 

“Nothing only family ties, my dear husband ! 
Baby and I will miss you so much !” 

“I know I have the dearest of family ties, and 
I should feel badly if I thought I should not be 
missed! 1 will not be absent for long, and you 
must not allow baby to forget me, my dear I” 

will not forget or forsake me either, will 
you, Salenna? Promise me you will not, and 
seal the pledge with a kiss,” he added in a strange 
appealing way and a wistful look upon his face. 

“How wildly you talk, Edward ! Of course I 
will not forsake you! And do you suppose I 
could ever forget you? I shall be very, very sorry 


88 Triumphs and Failures. 

forsake you never!'* and she gave the kiss that 
sealed the pledge. 

He then proceeded with his preparations, and 
a week later went his way. 

On the morning of the fourth day after his de^ 
parture Mrs. Granville ordered her horse saddled 
and brought round. 

Just as she was ready to spring into the saddle, 
she noticed a boy coming up the drive, and she 
awaited his approach before mounting. 

The boy came up to her and placed a letter in 
her hand. ^^You air Mis^ Granville, ain’t ye?” he 
inquired, as he gave it to her. 

^^Yes, my boy, I am Mrs. Granville. Will you 
want a reply?” she inquired. 

^^Yo, ma’am, I wuz just told to give it to you 
an’ nobody else,” he replied, as he sauntered laz- 
ily away. 

Mrs. Granville called the lazy-looking and dirty 
urchin back to her, gave him a small coin, then 
turned to examine the envelope. She immediately 
recognized the writing as that of her husband, and 
turning to the groom who held her horse, she said, 
^^Samuel, you will just keep my horse here until 
I read this letter,” and she re-entered the house. 

She broke the seal and read as follows : 

‘‘My dear SALEN-irA: As you already know, I 
have started for Colorado, but, since you were not 
aware of my intentions, I will now inform you 
of what I have done, hoping that your better judg- 
ment will prevent you making any trouble about 
it. I have drawn upon your bank account, but 
you need not allow that to trouble you, for I shall 
return to you a few months hence, with a much 


A Full-Handed Exodus. 


89 


larger amount than I have taken away. Hoping 
you will not feel too indignant at my presumptu- 
ousness I remain, 

‘^Your ever dutiful Edward.” 

For a few moments after reading the letter, 
Mrs. Granville paced the floor, struggling with 
herself to subdue the righteous anger and outraged 
pride which raged in her bosom, and it was not 
until half an hour had elapsed that she dared 
trust herself in the presence of her servant, who, 
in charge of her horse, sat patiently waiting out- 
side. 

“If I am to let him go unpunished for this un- 
warrantable outrage, I must never let the world 
know,” she said to herself, as she left the house 
again, mounted her horse and rode away, as if 
nothing unusual had occurred. 

In the afternoon she drove into town to look 
after her bank account. She found that her gen- 
erous husband had left her a sufficient amount in 
the bank to maintain her home until she could 
avail herself of other means. 

Salenna Granville had experienced many, many 
heai-taches; in fact, her sweet, young life had 
been one long, unbroken list of profound tragedy, 
and yet she had never known any sorrow so hard 
to bear as this unexpected blow, dealt by the 
hand of one whom she loved best of all else on 
earth, and one who had held her implicit confi- 
dence and her loftiest ideals. 

“Betrayed by love, ensnared by confidence, and 
dishonored by wealth ! Was the hand of fate 


90 Triumphs and Failures. 

ever so cruel before she cried out in her bitter 
anguish, as she sat alone in her solitary chamber 
that evening, for she could not so much as allow 
baby Carrie or Harold to be near her, lest they 
bear witness to the terrible battle she waged for 
mastery of self. 

The next morning she arose and joined her fam- 
ily as usual. She was bright and cheerful, even 
pleasantly inclined. The struggle was over. She 
had conquered ! The world should never know. 
But deep down in her heart she pitted her own 
strength, her own courage, her own intellect, and 
her own honor against that of her wrong-doer, 
with the challenge, ‘‘That he who wins shall take 
the spoils!” 

Edward Granville traveled on week after week, 
and at last reached his destination. He was de- 
lighted with the beautiful scenery and healthful 
climate, and at last summoned courage to write 
to his wife, begging her to join him as soon as she 
could possibly do so. 

“The change will do you good,” he wrote, “be- 
sides I am so lonely without you.” 

Three months later Mrs. Granville received this 
humble, appealing letter from her husband, but 
she only smiled sardonically as she read it. 

“Perhaps he thinks I will not come, anyway, 
and that this humble and affectionate letter will 
appease me to some extent, but if that is his ob- 
ject he will find himself very much mistaken. I 
shall go at once 1” she decided, as she read the 
letter about the twentieth time. 

“Algernon, I have decided that we shall all go 
to Colorado as soon as it is practicable,” she said 
to her son the morning following the receipt of 


A Full-Handed Exodus. 


91 


the letter, are not strong, and my health 

is somewhat impaired. Perhaps it will benefit us 
both.” 

Algernon Forresman had never worried his 
shiftless brain over such matters and he did not 
allow this to arouse him from his passive repose. 
He only yawned out that he knew nothing about 
it, and murmured something about the novelty of 
a trip, and that was all his mother could extract 
from him upon the subject. He was at this time 
old enough that had he possessed any spirit what- 
ever he might have seen how matters stood in their 
household ; but he had been so petted and spoiled, 
and had always depended upon the resources of 
his mother, that instead of looking after her wel- 
fare, he was always demanding her attention for 
himself. 

Mrs. Granville almost shuddered at the thought 
of the hazardous journey across the trackless 
wastes of prairie, with its countless bands of rov- 
ing Indians, its roaming herds of wild buffalo, and 
the dry hot winds she must encounter, but the 
wild, passionate longing to again see him whom 
she loved so well, and the violent desire to ^^get 
even” with him, subdued her fears, and she at once 
began her preparations. 

‘‘This step, be it wise or foolish, cannot mar 
my happiness, for I can never be content again 
until I shall have regained all I have lost, and am 
again in the presence of my betrayer,” and with 
this enigmatical decision, she went about her un- 
pleasant task. , 

It was no easy matter to find enough people 


92 Triumphs and Failures. 

who wished to venture out upon such an under- 
taking to make a party large enough to dare at- 
tempt crossing the untenanted Western plains, but 
at last she succeeded. 

The party consisted of Mrs. Granville and fam- 
ily, together with Sarah and eleven men. 

A “train,” consisting of four heavily-loaded 
wagons and each drawn by six yoke of oxen, a 
carriage for the comfort of Mrs. Granville and 
family, and a number of saddle horses completed 
the list, and on July twentieth, the little party 
began its long and perilous journey. 


Across the Plains. 


93 


CHAPTER X. 

ACROSS THE PLAINS. 

Day after day and week after week they toiled 
on, at first through the luxuriant, grassy plains, 
and farther on through the wild, sandy desert, 
where no sign of human habitation met their long- 
ing eyes, and no familiar sound greeted their will- 
ing ears. 

The hot sand of the Desert made the heat almost 
unbearable, and the dry, scorching winds parched 
their lips and burned their skins, until at the end 
of six weeks, you would scarcely have recognized 
the little party as being the one which had so re- 
cently left the beautiful plains of Iowa. 

They were now in a vicinity where they en- 
countered roving bands of Indians, sometimes 
stopping for the night near an Indian camp and 
were often visited by the redskins. 

Fortunately, however, they did not come in con- 
tact with any who were hostile, and the tawny 
bucks were always the recipient of some favor 
from the fair mistress of the party. They would 
then go away muttering to themselves in their 
own peculiar dialect, that she was a ^fiieap good 
woman and should not be disturbed.’^ 


94 Triumphs and Failures. 

The little party was always greatly relieved, 
however, when the last one of them filed away 
from their camp and were heartily thankful when 
they came in sight of the massive mountains tow- 
ering before them in the distance. 

Nine weeks of hardships and trials found them 
within a few miles of Denver. Night came on 
and Mrs. Granville ordered her men to camp. They 
were so near their destination, she herself could 
not think of spending another night out, so she, 
with the children and Algernon, left the men and 
wagons and proceeded toward the town. 

^Terhaps you are acquainted with my husband; 
his name is Edward Granville.” 

^^Edward Granville!” thundered the stranger. 
^^Know him ? Why, of course, I know him ! I 
was stupid not to recognize you as Mrs. Gran- 
ville, for I knew that he was expecting you any 
day. Certainly, I will go back and leave you safe 
and sound with your husband 1” 

The stranger dismounted and took his seat in 
the carriage, while Algernon mounted the horse 
and followed. Several hours later Edward Gran- 
ville was pleasantly surprised by the arrival of 
his family. His joy w^as unbounded, for with all 
his selfishness he loved his wife and little daugh- 
ter dearly. As for Algernon, he neither disliked 
nor cared very much, but little Harold had always 
been well liked by him, and in a way it was pleas- 
ant, if a little embarrassing and humiliating also. 

Edward Granville had been expecting his fam- 
ily some time in the near future, and had rented 
a cottage for their reception and occupancy until 
one of their own could be erected. 


Across the Plains. 


95 


The plans were all drawn, and the work snb- 
mitted to the contractors, before Salenna even 
knew of his intentions. But she could only stand 
back and look on with quiet contempt, asking no 
questions, while she saw her own money so reck- 
lessly invested, and her husband proceeded with as 
much hardihood as if he had earned every dollar 
of it by the sweat of his own brow, and making no 
explanations whatever. At any rate she felt a 
degree of satisfaction in the certain knowledge 
that he would have nothing that was not both 
beautiful and comfortable. His love of self as- 
sured her of that. 

It was about midsummer when the Granville 
cottage was completed. The family then removed 
there. 

How different was the dedication of this new 
home, under the present circumstances, to that of 
the one at Maple Grove, in sunny Iowa, only a 
few years since ! Then she was queen of her own 
fortunes, let them be good or bad, and unfettered 
by the ties of love ! Now she felt that she was 
the poorest of all women, a slave to the love of an 
unworthy man, and a stranger in a strange land ! 

The winter passed without anything of impor- 
tance occurring, but as the first signs of Spring 
made their appearance Edward Granville began 
making preparations to return to Iowa, on pur- 
pose to purchase a ‘‘train” and load it with goods 
to bring to Denver. 

He had spent much of his time during the past 
winter in looking up the details of this business, 
but he had never mentioned it to his wife, partly 
because he enjoyed his own power so immeusely. 


96 Triumphs and Failures. 

and partly because he feared to take her into his 
confidence, lest she find a way to overthrow his 
power and regain what he had usurped. 

Had a cloudburst fallen at her feet, she could 
not have been more dumbfounded than when her 
husband announced to her his intentions, with an 
urgent request that she and the children accom- 
pany him. 

He was so selfish in his love for his wife and 
child that he would drag them through any kind 
of hardships, that he might be with them, and Sa- 
lenna realized that it was only self-indulgent mo- 
tives that prompted him to make the demand. 
But, with a hope still in her heart, that in some 
way she might be able to overthrow him, she 
quietly submitted. 

The first of May Salenna closed her Denver 
home, and the little party started on their second 
trip across the Desert. Having no loads, their 
progress was better than when they had gone over 
the route before, and after six weeks they arrived 
at Maple Grove. 

Edward Granville set to work to make the nec- 
essary purchases, and Salenna, always on the alert, 
watched each movement eagerly, hoping to find 
some avenue into his plans, that she might prevent 
this unwise adventure, but he was too cautious 
of his falsely vested rights to be caught unawares, 
and all her watchfulness availed her nothing. 

Salenna realized that this was a paying invest- 
ment, but she knew also that every day and every 
hour spent upon the Desert their fortune and even 
their own lives were in their own hands, but she 
gave herself comfort in the thought of having 


Across the Plains. 


97 


safely gone over the route once before with sup- 
plies, and she tried to persuade herself that they 
would always be as fortunate. 

She decided to leave Algernon in Brighton, to 
enter school, for she could no longer keep him 
from his duties, because of the troubles brought 
about by her own misalliance. 

Poor, good-natured, idle Algernon! Little did 
he care how many times his mother crossed the 
Plains, or how much worry she spent over him, 
so long as she did not bother him with her trou- 
bles. 

After ten weeks of travel in the usual manner 
the Brighton train reached Denver. Edward 
Granville then proceeded to dispose of his goods. 
When the last article was sold and the final ac- 
counting finished, the profits were far beyond even 
his wild expectations, and he immedately made up 
his mind to follow that business for a few years. 

The fourth year of this wild, adventurous life 
was entered into in much the same manner as the 
preceding ones, only on a much larger scale. 

Edward Granville decided to make a grand ^'hiP^ 
this year, and every dollar available he invested in 
goods and cattle. 

“I will make this my last trip,^^ he said to him- 
self as he started out again. am tired of 
^roughing it,^ and my heart really aches for Sa- 
lenna I I know she has suffered everything at my 
hands, and after this year I shall begin trying to 
make amends ! I can repay her all that I have 
taken from her, and interest, too, and then have 
a small fortune of my own left. I can then be as 
independent as she was before my disgraceful es- 


98 Triumphs and Failures. 

capade! Heavens, but she is one in thousands! 
She has never mentioned that, not even to her own 
son I What a beast I have been ! But I will do 
all I can to ameliorate her future by every atone^ 
ment possible;’’ and he actually experienced a de- 
gree of satisfaction at the prospect of a complete 
reparation and a peaceful domestic life. 

They had reached Diamond Spring station, 
which was only a good day’s drive from Denver, 
and there they camped for the night. 


An Indian Raid. 


99 


CHAPTER XI. 

AN INDIAN RAID. 

Granville was anxious! For three days, at 
different times, he had noticed a big buck Indian 
not far from their little band, who would ride 
along in sight of them for a few miles, and then 
disappear again. 

Late in the evening he was more conspicuous, 
when he would take a circuitous route around their 
camp, as if investigating their situation, and then 
disappear in the distance. 

All this the master of the train understood very 
well, and it had been secretly discussed between 
himself and his men, but there could be no plan 
laid to save the train in case of an attack. This 
they well knew, but they decided to keep a sharp 
lookout, and if they were attacked, to try and ef- 
fect the escape of all the men without harm. 

Edward Granville spent a restless night;, and 
he arose feeling very thankful indeed that another 
night had passed in safety. He felt that the only 
thing left for him to do to protect his wife and 
child was to attempt sending them into Denver 
that day. This, he realized, was a very dangerous 
undei taking, but they were surrounded on all sides 


lOO Triumphs and Failures. 

by peril, and he believed this was the safest thing 
he could do. 

All night long he puzzled his brain over the 
fate that now seemed inevitable. But was it not a 
just retribution for him? This he almost ad- 
mitted to himself, as he lay there and fancied that 
he could almost see his beautiful wife and darling 
child dragged into captivity, or hear their shrieks 
of agony as they were tortured by their savage 
captors. 

He therefore laid his plans before his wife, and 
just as the sun was peeping over the eastern hori- 
zon, Salenna bade farewell to her husband and 
his little band, gravely doubting as to whether she 
should ever look upon one of them again. 

Granville insisted upon his wife taking a sturdy 
man with her, but to this she replied that should 
she be molested at all a man would be of no avail. 
And with this the brave little woman left the 
camp, accompanied only by Sarah and the chil- 
dren. 

"If I can arrive within ten miles of Denver by 
dark I shall feel safe,^^ Salenna said to herself as 
she drove along. However, the horses were fresh, 
having traveled so slowly with the loaded train, 
and she made time beyond her expectations. 

Just when the sun was dropping behind the 
towering mountains, the little town rose to her 
sight, and just when the twilight was changing its 
weird shadows into darkness Salenna Granville 
drove her tired team through the streets and 
straiglit to her own home. 

She had spent a day of terrible anxiety, expect- 
ing at any moment that she might be confronted 


An Indian Raid. 


lOI 


by a band of savage Indians and either slain or 
dragged into captivity. 

After Salenna had left the camp, the men hur- 
riedly packed their camping utensils, and started 
out on their slow plodding way, with only a faint 
hope against strong circumstances that they should 
ever reach their destination in safety. For the 
distance covered by Salenna in a light, unloaded 
vehicle, drawn by two swift horses, in one day, 
would require at least three days for a heavily 
loaded train, drawn by plodding oxen. 

The day wore heavily on; the spy kept close 
watch on the Granville train, as he had done for 
three preceding days. Just at nightfall he was 
seen to make a circuit of the camp, and again 
disappear, which increased the anxiety of the men. 

The usual routine of preparing for the night 
was gone through, except that every horse was 
left with the saddle upon his back, and tied with- 
in an arm’s reach of his master. The men did not 
undress, but sat listening and watching. 

The assault did not come just in the manner 
they had expected it, however, which fact was 
greatly to their advantage. 

About three miles above them a large mule 
train had camped. The attack was made upon it 
first. The leaders of this band had not been so 
observant as had Granville and his men, and so 
deftly had the assault been planned by the red- 
skins that the men to whom the train belonged 
had remained in ignorance of their impending 
danger. 

Stealthily the savage invaders crept up to the 
little camp, now so peaceful in its well-earned re- 


102 TrlumpHs and Failures. 

pose, and not until the horrible war cry sounded 
close to their ears were they aware of their peril. 

In an instant everything was confusion. The 
cattle broke from their sleeping watchers, and 
clashed over the prairie in maddened fear, and the 
mules, terror-stricken, wrenched from their fasten- 
ings, and bounded away into the darkness. 

Above the confusion and deafening warwhoops 
of the savages could be heard the leader giving 
commands to his men, but it was all too late. 
Only four of the twenty ever reached their horses 
and escaped. 

After rummaging the camp, to make sure that 
there were no more people whom they could slay, 
and taking such things as they could carry away 
with them, the Indians deliberately set fire to 
ever3rthing remaining, and started for the Gran- 
ville camp. 

It had been the plan of the redskins to capture 
both trains the same night, but in this they were 
disappointed. 

The unusual noise made by the stampeded cat- 
tle and mules, the firing of the guns in the hands 
of the doomed men, and the warwhoops of the 
savages, reached the quick ears of the watchful 
men at the other camp. 

^^Gather whatever you can take easily, and pre- 
pare to ride for your lives !” was the order given 
by Granville as soon as he became convinced of 
the truth. ‘‘Mount your horses and follow me V* 
he again commanded. 

Not a word of objection was ottered by one of 
them. They all understood that no time must be 
lost, and they had great confidence in their leader. 


An Indian Raid. 


103 

He knew the country well, and they were only too 
willing to follow whither he would lead. 

They hastily mounted their horses, each one tak- 
ing some clothing and whatever money he hap- 
pened to possess, and rode quickly away. 

The fleeing fugitives were scarcely a mile from 
their abandoned camp, when the warriors entered 
it, part of the band having rode on ahead, after 
they had slain all the men at the other camp, 
while the remainder staid to bum the loaded wag- 
ons. They were shrewd enough to fear that the 
noise would frighten their prey at the other camp, 
and had tal^en this precaution. 

Mr. Granville knew that as soon as the remain- 
der of the hostile band should arrive on the scene 
they would divide and some of them would pur- 
sue him and his men. 

He bade his followers hasten and dashed furi- 
ously across the country for an hour. He then 
slackened his speed, and turned to his men, who 
were close upon his heels, saying, in a suppressed 
voice, ^^Are you all here?’^ 

^‘All here V’ was the cautious response. 

These were the first words spoken after they 
had seen the Indians enter their camp, and they 
rode on for a time in silence, no other sound be- 
ing audible only the deep breathing of their tired 
horses. 

Presently they turned into a canon, and here 
Granville halted. He thought best to consult the 
men as to what they wished to do. 

^‘Do, the devil !"’ ejaculated the spokesman of 
the crowd. ''We ain’t after doin’ iny thing, only 
what you be a-tellin’ us to do !” 


104 Triumphs and Failures. 

^^Well, if you wish to do as I tell you, I will 
give you my plan. But we have no time to lose/^ 
he said. 

^^Let us hear it, then; we’re all with you,” they 
declared with hushed breath. 

“1 know the country well,” he said, ^^and I think 
we can reach Denver by daybreak; hut we must 
not venture near the main road, for those red dev- 
ils will follow us like bloodhounds. It will be a 
hard, rough ride for us, but it is the only way to 
evade a fight with them, and they would outnum- 
ber us so greatly that we would be only a handful. 
So if you are willing, here we go !” 

When they reached the hilltop they could look 
back and see the fiames still shooting upward, as 
the well-packed wagons of their so recently de- 
serted train were reduced to ashes. 

They rode on over hills and through canons, and 
at last reached a road which Mr. Granville knew 
would lead them directly into town. 

Just as the gray dawn was breaking a little 
band of weary, haggard horsemen rode into the 
streets of Denver. They were scarcely recogniz- 
able to their most intimate friends, for the long 
night spent in the saddle without sleep, and the 
horrible suspense they endured, had told fearfully 
upon them. 

Edward Granville rode straight to his own 
home, for as yet he did not know whether Salenna 
had reached there or not. To his delight he saw 
the carriage standing in the shed, and he could 
hear the lazy munching of the horses in the barn, 
as they partook of their early breakfast. This told 
enough. He knew they were safe. 


An Indian Raid. 


105 

He rapped at the door, calling: ^^It is I, Sa- 
lenna ; please let me in !” 

^'Oh, Edward, what dreadful thing has hap- 
pened to you cried his wife, as she proceeded to 
open the door. 

Had she seen his pallid features before she 
spoke, she would not have asked the question, for 
a glance at his wan face and disheveled appear- 
ance told all. 

^'It’s all gone, Salenna, all gone!’’ he muttered 
hoarsely, as he staggered into the room. 

“You must retire at once,” she said as she be- 
gan preparations for him to rest. “There now, do 
not talk, but be quiet and take some rest,” she 
added, as he attempted to tell her something. 

The burning of trains and the slaying of the 
people with them was a very common occurrence, 
and instinctively Salenna knew the trouble was 
something of that nature. She supposed their 
men had all been murdered and only her husband 
had escaped. 

In a few moments he found himself on a cool, 
fresh bed, while his aching head was being bathed 
by sympathetic hands. 

“I have ordered Sarah to make you a cup of 
coffee at once,” she said as she busied herself with 
making him more comfortable. 

Granville drank the coffee in silence, his anxious 
wife watching him from the foot of the bed. 

After the coffee was finished, Salenna removed 
the tray, drew the shades, and quietly left the 
room, for she could not bring herself to converse 
upon the terrible subject just at present. 


io6 Triumphs and Failures. 

The weary man soon dropped into a heavy, 
troubled sleep. 

As the day wore on, and while Edward slept, 
Salenna, who was so anxious to learn the fate of 
her husband’s comrades, went to the home of one 
of them. To her great relief she learned that they 
had all escaped unharmed. 

This was all the information she could obtain, 
however, for the weary men had all likewise sought 
rest. 

Upon awaking Edward Granville sought his 
wife, fully intending to acknowledge all his short- 
comings, pledge himself again to constancy and 
devotion, implore her forgiveness and beg to be 
reinstated in her good graces. 

He felt that he could bear downright abuse 
better than the cold, quiet, reproachful kindness 
she showed toward him, for he knew that he did 
not deserve kindness in the slightest degree, and 
that no rebuke she could possibly give him would 
be too severe for his shameful conduct. 

‘T will love you always and forsake you never,” 
words so lightly spoken by her, yet meaning so 
much, rang in his conscience-smitten ears con- 
stantly, for he had become convinced that he pos- 
sessed the most priceless treasure Heaven ever be- 
stowed upon man, the deathless love of this peer- 
less woman, and he had trampled it under foot as 
he might have done the meanest and lowliest thing 
of all creation. 

When he met her, the sight of her pale face 
and tearless eyes, signs of untold suffering sub- 
dued by pride alone, his courage began to falter. 
He could not for the life of him think of just the 


An Indian Raid. 


107 


right words to frame the long categorical explana- 
tion he thought necessary in order that he be thor- 
oughly understood, and he compromised his own 
decrepitude by beginning with an account of the 
Indian attack of the previous night. 

Salenna listened attentively until her husband 
had finished, then, without any reference whatever 
to their great financial loss, she replied : 

^^ell, Edward, we should be thankful that 
your lives were spared!” 

He was immediately thrown from his purpose 
by this very commonplace remark, for he had fully 
expected and actually hoped for her to speak 
of their financial reverses, thinking it would lead 
up to what he wished to say, and his disappoint- 
ment amounted to complete intimidation. 

She seemed to have nothing to say upon the sub- 
ject, or at least she had nothing to say to him, so 
he decided, and he faltered and waited. The con- 
fession was postponed, for the time just fitted for 
the occasion never seemed to present itself, and Sa- 
lenna Granville never knew that her husband 
had repented of his evil doings, else many other 
evils might have been overcome and many future 
sorrows averted. 

The effect of this disaster upon the Granvilles 
was very serious indeed. To be sure they still 
possessed a handsome farm in Iowa and their home 
in Denver, but neither of these afforded any aid 
at the present time, and no one was more keenly 
alive to the situation than Salenna herself. How- 
ever, she could not so far lower her pride, or ad- 
mit his capability or equality with herself, finan- 
cially, as to speak to him of their circumstances. 


io8 Triumphs and Failures. 

No, the money was gone, and she would not cater 
to him now in their poverty. 

So Granville waited and waited, hoping each 
day that his wife would say something, but after 
two weeks of anxious anticipations, ending in dis- 
appointment, he decided to mention the subject, 
for he was really at a loss to know what they were 
to do through the coming winter. He had never 
supported a family, no, not even himself very 
much of his life, and he had no idea of his own 
how to proceed, and he wondered what she could 
have in view, for he was certain she had some- 
thing. 

^^Salenna, my dear, what do you think we had 
best do?^^ he finally summoned courage to ask, al- 
though he was very, very humble while speaking. 
^^We must make some turn or other to get along 
until something turns up, you know !” 

prefer to hear what you think of it, Ed- 
ward. You know I might be deficient in judg- 
ment so soon after this dreadful occurrence Sa- 
lenna presently replied, with more irony than he 
had ever heard in her voice before, but she had 
determined to draw him out, find out what his 
views were, or if he had any, and in that way give 
herself an opportunity to express her own ideas. 

Edward noticed her irony, and he thought he 
understood her, also, and he winced under her 
cutting manner, but the ice was broken now, and 
he would not retract, so he continued with as good 
grace as possible. 

“I do not think it quite safe to attempt re- 
turning home just now, so I presume we must try 
some way of getting on here, until those sav- 


An Indian Raid. 


109 


ages are quiet again. We — we — might go to — 
the mines for a while, and who knows but we 
might strike a fortune there,” he concluded hesi- 
tatingly. 

^‘To the mines ! Why, Edward, you surely do 
not know what you are saying! No, I will never 
go to the mines so long as my mind is my own! 
The mines are suggestive, and, in fact, are the 
beginning of all my life’s misery and failures. 
All the sorrow I ever knew ! The very name 
strikes terror to my heart ! You surely do not un- 
derstand all that it means to me, else you would 
not even suggest such a thing !” she cried vehe- 
mently. 

^‘But what will we do, Salenna? We miLst do 
something, you know !” 

have not been manager of my own affairs 
the past fourteen years (the last four excepted) 
not to understand that, my husband ! I know 
something must be done, but we could accomplish 
nothing whatever by going there ! It would re- 
quire a great deal to live, while we would have 
only a mere possibility of making anything. But 
if I knew positively and undeniably that we could 
accumulate as much during the coming winter as 
we have just lost, I would not go !” 

‘^Since you seem to think my plan so ridicu- 
lous, perhaps you can offer something better !” 

^T did not ridicule your plan, but I do most 
emphatically refuse to accept it, because I think 
it visionary and speculative in the extreme!” 

‘^Weak and imbecile, you mean, my dear Sa- 
lenna !” he said sarcastically. 

“That is your interpretation and not my con- 


no Triumphs and Failures. 

stmction! Perhaps your comprehension of your- 
self is better than my understanding. At any rate, 
since it is your own translation, I have no right 
to dispute it,” she replied so calmly that his self- 
possession began to forsake him. 

asked for your opinions, and not your criti- 
cisms, Mrs. Granville ! Will you please give what 
I asked for?’^ he replied hotly. 

can tell you what I intend doing this winter, 
if that will give you any comfort, but, judging 
from your own statements, it will not meet your 
approval. I intend remaining here in Denver un- 
til the winter is over. Then I shall return to 
Iowa and endeavor to be as comfortable as possi- 
ble under existing circumstances.^^ 

‘^‘'But during the winter 

‘T shall be comfortable, never fear ! I can man- 
age that perfectly 
“Howr 

‘*1 shall turn the home here into a rooming 
house.” 

^^Salenna, you do not mean it !” 

‘T most certainly do !” 

“Then I shall go to the mines ! I could not tol- 
erate such a thing !” 

“That is your privilege, if it is your pleasure, 
Mr. Granville,” she quietly replied, as she arose 
and left him. 

“H-m-m, she^s getting rather saucy, but she is 
not to blame for it ! She’ll be all right when this 
thing blows over, and I return from the mines 
with enough money to make up the loss. And if 
I make the money myself, it will be mine and she 
shall be the loser by the Indian raid! Then, no 


An Indian Raid. 


Ill 


matter what I shall choose to do' with it, she 
will have no place for a word ! That is capital, I 
declare he soliloquized, when he was alone. 

There was one thing, however, that Granville 
did not know, and that Salenna did not intend 
that he shonld know. He was not aware of the 
fact that his wife was in possession of a few hun- 
dred dollars that she had scraped together at dif- 
ferent times. This she knew would be sufficient 
to take herself and family home again, if she 
could manage to live through the winter without 
drawing upon it, so she fell upon the plan of 
renting a portion of their home to furnish the 
living. 

She proceeded at once to fulfill her part of 
the program, and after a few days, seeing that 
there was nothing left for him to do but to exe- 
cute his declaration, and with all his good resolu- 
tions forgotten, Edward Granville started for the 
mines. 

But Salenna’s troubles did not end here. About 
two months after Edward Granville had left Den- 
ver, she received a letter from her son whom she 
had left in Brighton, asking her to give her con- 
sent to his marriage, which was necessary, since 
he had not yet attained his majority. 

This was a source of great anxiety to Salenna, 
for in their present circumstances that would in- 
cur expenses which would be very difficult to meet. 
Furthermore, she knew that it would end all her 
cherished hopes and ambitions' for his future. 

Algernon had not heard of their financial re- 
verses, for his mother had shrunk from the task 


1 12 Triumphs and Failures. 

of informing him, but it would have mattered little 
to him had he known. 

She replied to his letter, giving him an account 
of all that had happened to them since last she 
saw him, and also returning to him, unsigned, the 
papers he had sent her. 

“You know, Algernon,’^ she said at the close, 
“that I have no objection to the young lady of 
your choice, but I wish you to finish your college 
course, and by that time I hope we shall have re- 
covered from our losses, and you will be better 
able to support a wife. If your affianced really 
cares for you she will see the good judgment of this 
advice, and be willing to abide by it.'’^ 

It was much easier to sit and build air castles 
than to make enough money to replace what had 
been lost by the Indian raid, so Edward Granville 
discovered at the close of the winter spent in the 
mines. He scarcely had enough money to return 
to his wife. 

It was nearing spring when he reached Denver. 
Salenna received him kindly, with no word of re- 
proach and yet no enthusiasm. But her poor heart 
was at that very moment being ruthlessly crushed 
by the iron heel of her lofty pride! How she 
longed to throw herself into his arms, and weep 
out all her sorrows, and whisper sweet words of 
forgiveness for all his shortcomings, while he 
kissed away her tears and repeated the old, old 
story of his love for her, but her dignity forbade 
such a display of weakness, and their meeting was 
very formal indeed. 


An Indian Raid. 113 

cannot crush my love for him, but I can cer- 
tainly mete out to him some of the chastisement 
he deserves,” she said to herself. 

When Edward Granville reached Denver, he 
found his wife and family upon the eve of de- 
parture for their home in Iowa, and his curiosity 
concerning his own welfare was soon aroused. 

^^What do you intend doing, anyway, Salenna? 
And what am I to do ?” he inquired when he made 
the discovery. 

^W^hy, Edward, the children and 1 are going 
home, where I expect to begin anew, and try as 
nearly as possible to retrieve the past; but as for 
you, I have no suggestions to offer; you may go 
along if you wish, you may remain here, or go 
anywhere else you like. You have your own pleas- 
ure entirely.” 

^Tretty cold comfort for a fellow, after he has 
been gone all winter, and ^roughed^ it in the 
mines, as I have!” growled Granville, very much 
disconcerted. 

To this Salenna made no reply and there was no 
alternative but for him to wait in silence. At 
times he was upon the verge of an outburst of im- 
precations against her. Again, he would declare 
to himself that he would never return with her. 
Then he would remember her words upon that 
point, and would swear with all the vindictiveness 
of his nature that he would go whether she cared 
or not. 

This quandary was soon settled by Salenna 
leaving Denver with her family and several men, 
and, lastly, but not the least, however, her hus- 
band. 


Triumphs and Failures. 


114 


CHAPTER XIL 

MAN VERSUS WOMAN. 

On the morning following their arrival, Mrs. 
Granville ordered the carriage. 

As she descended the stairs she met her husband. 

^^Where are you going, Salenna he demanded. 

^‘'To C , sir,^^ was the cool rejoinder. 

'^May I have the pleasure of being your escort T’ 
he asked, sarcastically. 

‘T do not need an escort as I have always found 
things more profitable when I was alone, but you 
may go if you wish,” she replied, calmly. 

Granville resolved to learn the object of her 

visit to C , and not only so, but he knew 

enough of her disposition to understand that the 
only way open to him now was to regain her confi- 
dence by kindness and devotion, rather than harsh- 
ness and neglect, for without her confidence his 
case was hopeless. 

He placed his wife in the carriage and took 
his seat beside here. 

As they drove along he chatted incessantly and 
Salenna answered in an abstracted way, scarcely 
knowing what he said or how she replied. 

Her mind was full of conflicting thoughts. She 
was wondering to herself what had come over 
Edward that he should so suddenly change, from 
a self-willed, obstinate man, to a kind, considerate 


Man Versus Woman. 115 

husband. Then she fairly rubbed her eyes to make 
sure that she was really awake, and would not 
finally arouse to find herself in the bondage of 
tyranny again. 

^^Salenna, my dear, are you asleep, or what is 
the matter with you? I have asked you three 
times already where we should drive, and you have 
been looking into space as though you were read- 
ing your fortunes there,” she heard her husband 
saying in his softest voice, which aroused her from 
her meditation. 

‘T was only thinking, Edward. These familiar 
scenes bring to my mind many pleasant thoughts 
of bygone days, of course, not unmixed with some 
unpleasant ones,” she replied, gloomily. 

^^You should not allow yourself to think of un- 
pleasant things. Look into the future rather than 
review the past, little wife,” he replied, as he 
thought, very shrewdly. 

‘^That is the hard part of it ! The prospects of 
my future are even more forbidding than my 
past experiences have been wretched !” she retorted 
with a rising spirit. 

‘^^By George, my lady is getting her Irish up 
again and I must be careful what I say else I will 
never regain her favor. It’s a thundering hard 
lot anyway to be dependent upon one’s wife’s pock- 
etbook for one’s sport,” Edward growled to him- 
self as they rode along. 

^^Salenna, you have never told me where you 
wished me to drive you. We will be wandering 
around here like a Jew pretty soon if I do not re- 
ceive some instructions from my fair lady,” he 
added, ip a playful manner. 


ii6 Triumphs and Failures^ 

^^You may drive to the St. Clare, I think,” she 
replied. 

They drove to the hotel, where Mrs. Granville 
alighted. She entered and stepped just back of 
the door, but where she could watch her husband 
as he drove away. 

As soon as Edward disappeared down the street, 
Salenna stepped forth and walked rapidly in an- 
other direction from that taken by her husband. 

She walked a few blocks and entered a real es- 
tate office, and soon related to the senior partner 
the nature of her business. 

She placed in their hands, for sale, one-half of 
the large tract of land which she now owned, with 
instructions to sell at the earliest date possible. 

Mrs. Granville then returned to the hotel, ex- 
pecting to find her husband there, and wondering 
how she could evade telling him where she had 
been, for she did not wish him to know of the sale 
until the mcTney she should receive should be safely 
invested. 

In this, however, she was soon relieved, for when 
she reached the hotel, she found that her husband 
had not yet returned. 

After leaving the hotel Granville drove to a 
barn, threw the reins to a stable boy, alighted, and 
strolled leisurely up the street, thinking — think- 
ing of his wife and just how he was to manage her, 
to successfully quell her rebellious spirit. 

Suddenly he remembered himself, and upon 
looking about him discovered that he had walked 
several blocks. 

^^This will not do !” he muttered to himself. 
must return to the hotel. Salenna may wish to 


Man Versus Woman. 117 

go out, and if I am to find out anything, I must 
keep my eyes open and my wits together.” 

He turned in another direction, and walked a 
short distance. Looking ahead of him some two 
blocks away, he saw his wife just emerging from 
a building. She looked up and down the street 
for a moment, and then turning, walked in the 
direction of the hotel. 

Edward Granville, on seeing his wife emerge 
from the doorway, cautiously stepped around a 
corner where he could see, and yet not be seen. 

He watched her until he knew that she was far 
enough away that she would not discover his pres- 
ence, and then walked briskly toward the building 
whence he saw her come forth. 

He felt sure now that he held a clue to the ob- 
ject of the visit to town, and he was equally cer- 
tain that if he would use discretion he should be 
able to learn all there was worth knowing at the 
present time. 

He entered and addressed the head of the firm 
in an assumed manner, saying, ^^Has Mrs. Gran- 
ville been here, Mr. King?” 

^^Yes, sir, yes, sir. Just left a few moments 
ago, sir. Is there anything I can do for you, Mr. 
Granville ? Please be seated, sir.” 

^^You say that Mrs. Granville has just left here, 
Mr. King? She said she would remain here until 
I came, but I presume she thought I was not 
coming,” resumed Mr. Granville, manufacturing 
a falsehood to suit the occasion. 

“But, by the way, what did Mrs. Granville and 
you decide upon ?” added Granville, making a bold 
plunge. 


ii8 Triumphs and Failures. 

^'Well, sir, she decided to have me sell the west 
half of the farm. I believe Mrs. Granville told 
me that you wished to restock the place, for there 
would be a better income on the stock than on the 
land. I tell you, Mr. Granville, that lady has 
good judgment 

thank you very much, Mr. King. I shall be 
going, as Mrs. Granville will be waiting for me,^’ 
replied Edward, as he took his leave. 

He had learned all he wished to know, and hear- 
tily congratulated himself upon his good fortune. 

But this was not all. He was indeed pleased that 
his wife intended making the sale, but the next 
and most important thing on his part was to gain 
possession of the proceeds. 

He straightway returned to the hotel, where he 
found his wife waiting for him as calmly as if 
nothing had happened. 

^‘Why, Edward, where have you been all this 
time?’^ inquired Mrs. Granville, as her husband 
entered the room. 

^^Oh, I just met some old friends uptown, and 
talked just a little longer than I was aware. Have 
you been lonely here all alone? I am sorry that 
I was so thoughtless as to remain so long. You 
will pardon my thoughtlessness, will you not, my 
little wife ?” he said, in pleading tones, as he drew 
her to him. 

^^You have been here a full two hours alone, 
haven’t you? What a brute I am anyway,” he 
added. 

‘^Oh, you need not worry, I have not been here 
alone. I have been out and have enjoyed myself 
immensely,” she replied, sarcastically. 


Man Versus Woman. 119 

Edward took no notice of her sarcasm and went 
on. ‘^Well, what is the program for the day?’’ 

‘‘I shall spend the remainder of the day in shop- 
ping, and you may pass your time in any manner 
pleasing to yourself/’ she replied. 

Well, he did spend the day in a way pleasing 
yet perplexing to himself. He puzzled his brain 
all day, as to what means he should employ, to 
obtain the prospective money. 

Later in the afternoon, he fell upon a plan which 
pleased him very much. He went straight to the 
office of The C Gazette, and sought an inter- 

view with the editor. 

When the two were seated in the private office, 
Edward Granville laid all his plans before his at- 
tentive listener. 

The editor’s face beamed with delight at the 
prospect before him. “Now, please state that all 
over again, so I will be sure I am not dreaming,” 
he said, trying to rouse himself more thoroughly, 
to make sure that he was really awake. 

'^ell, you see, I wish you to publish a glowing 
account of the prices of cattle in Texas, and the 
Indian Territory; show how, by going there with 
a small sum of money and investing it in cattle, 
which are very cheap, a man can soon acquire a 
fortune. Eemember, if you make my scheme work 
an hundred dollars are yours ! If not, not a cent ! 
Do you hear?” repeated Granville very forcibly. 

^^es, yes, I hear, to be sure; but you say if 
I do not make your scheme work there is no pay. 
Pray, how can t make your plans good when I do 
not understand them ?” replied the editor. 

‘^ou do not need to understand more,” was the 


120 Triumphs and Failures. 

quick response. have told you enough that if 
you have any good judgment about you, you can 
make it win. Just do as I have directed, and that 
is all there is to it.” 

“Very well, sir, I will do the best I can, but 
it seems rather queer that I must undertake this 
in the dark,” whined the poor little editor pite- 
ously. 

^^Mind that you send me the daily without fail,” 
said Granville, as he left the office. 

^‘Well, let me see,” mused the editor, who was 
very much at a loss. ‘^Granville is a sly one, that 
he is, but I do not see where the harm could be, 
though. He just wants to show up that there are 
lots of cattle there and that they can be bought 
very cheap. That doesn’t seem very much, but it 
might mean a great deal to him, that’s a fact,” 
and he stopped his pace across the floor, and 
brought his fist down upon the table as much as to 
say, ‘That settles it.” 

Edward Granville felt that the battle was al- 
ready half won. He knew the perfect faith of his 
wife in a well-stocked farm, and he had learned 
that very morning of her intentions, hence the 
procedure of advertising. 

He looked at his watch. It was now five o’clock, 
which warned him that he must soon leave town, 
so he placed his unsuspecting wife in the carriage 
beside him and they drove homeward. 


A Shady Plot. 


I2I 


CHAPTER XIII. 

A SHADY PLOT. 

Mbs. Granville had not, as yet, seen her son, 
and feeling very anxious to see him she decided 

that the day following her visit to C should 

be spent in a visit to him. 

When she reached the school and made inquiries 
concerning Algernon, she was informed that he 
had not been there for several months. 

Salenna was really bewildered. Her son not 
there for several months really seemed preposter- 
ous. However, they could tell nothing beyond that 
fact. 

It finally occurred to her that Mrs. Dixon might 
know something of him and re-entering her car- 
riage she drove over there. 

Mrs. Dixon was delighted to see her old friend 
again, and after looking her over from head to 
foot, she exclaimed : ^W^hy, Mrs. Granville, what 
is the matter with you? You look ten years older 
than when you went away last year 

'H am feeling quite well, thank you. I am in 
search of Algernon. Is he here ?” replied Salenna, 
feigning no notice of the unintentional uncom- 
plimentary remark of her friend. 

"Oh, I beg your pardon, my dear, for not hav- 


122 Triumphs and Failures. 

ing told you sooner, but you see I was so glad to 
see you that I quite forgot myself. Algernon and 
his wife are here, Mrs. Granville, and I must say 
that he has a precious little wife, indeed! She 
is ” 

‘^His wife !” ejaculated Mrs. Granville. ^Ms he 
married, Mrs. Dixon? Tell me, is it true?’^ 

‘‘True? Why, it’s as true as I live!” replied 
that lady emphatically. “He was married on his 
twenty-first birthday.” 

Salenna sat utterly crushed and too overcome 
to speak, so great was the shock of this unwelcome 
information. 

Observing the silence of her friend, Mrs. Dixon 
continued sympathetically, “Did Algernon never 
write you that he was married, my dear ?” 

“He wrote me that he wished to be married, 
but that was the last I ever heard from him, and 
I supposed that he had decided to wait for a time,” 
replied the poor, distressed lady, when she could 
again find voice to speak. 

“Where are they? Bring them to me, Mrs. 
Dixon,” she added. 

That good lady left the room and went in search 
of Algernon and his bride. She soon found them 
and informed them that company was awaiting 
them in the parlor, and disappeared, without a 
word of further explanation. 

“I wonder who it can be at this hour!” ex- 
claimed young Mrs. Forresman, clinging to her 
husband and trembling from head to foot. 

“I dread to go ! Something tells me that it will 
not be pleasant company for me,” she murmured, 
and her teeth chattered as she spoke. 


123 


A Shady Plot. 

"You are only a little nervous tliis morning, Jo- 
sephine. It will be better for you to remain in 
your room, while I go to the parlor to meet who- 
ever it is,” said Algernon, soothingly. 

"Oh, lhank you, Alger ! You are always 
thoughtful,” cried Josephine, with infinite relief. 

Algernon descended the stairs and entered the 
parlor, little dreaming whom he was to meet. 

He looked around him and saw no one for 
an instant. 

"Algernon !” 

"Mother !” 

"Have you no word of welcome for me, my 
eon?” she said, as Algernon stood motionless be- 
fore her. 

"Oh, mother, it was such a surprise!” he cried, 
clasping her in his arms. 

"When did you arrive, mother mine?” he in- 
quired, looking fondly into her eyes. 

"Two days since,” she replied. 

After a moment of very awkward silence upon 
the part of her son, who really could not summon 
courage to open the subject of his disobedience, 
Salenna said: "Oh, Algernon, how could you be 
so imprudent as to marry when we were so broken 
up ! If you had only waited until we were on the 
road to success again how much better it would 
have been for us all.” 

"Don’t, mother! Do not reprove! Your dis- 
pleasure would kill me ! I know I should have 
acted differently, but it is too late now to make 
amends. Josephine is as good as an angel, and 
I am really sorry that she must share our misfor- 
tunes; but you will love her, mother, I know you 


124 Triumphs and Failures. 

will/’ replied Algernon, scarcely knowing what he 
said. 

He had always had his own way about every- 
thing, without rebuke or reproach, and now, when 
he saw the look lof disapprobation upon his moth- 
er’s face, and heard her words of bitter chastise 
ment, it went straight to his heart. 

^‘Where is your wife, Algernon? Bring her 
to me that I may become acquainted with her. It 
is done now, and we must make her young life 
as bright as possible, under the circumstances. 
You must go home with me, and we will decide 
upon our future course. You cannot stay here 
like this.” 

Algernon, who was only too glad to escape those 
searching reproachful eyes, left the parlor, and 
soon returned, accompanied by his young bride. 

The meeting between Salenna Granville and 
young Mrs. Forresman was very cordial, for Sa- 
lenna would not for a moment cast a cloud over 
the life of this fair creature because of the follies 
of her son, and Josephine soon felt very much at 
home with her. 

^^Why, Alger,” Josie remarked to her husband, 
when they were again alone, making preparations 
to depart with their mother, ‘^your mama is not 
one bit like I had fancied. I was actually afraid 
to meet her, but now I know she will love and pro- 
tect me. No one with such eyes as hers could ever 
give any one offense, unless the cause was very, 
very just!” 

“Mother is goodness itself, Josie; so good, in- 
deed, that I certainly could never bear her dis- 
pleasure,” replied Algernon, dejectedly. 


125 


A Shady Plot. 

^'Why, she doesn’t scold you, does she? Well, 
if she does I am quite sure you are deserving of it,” 
affirmed the enthusiastic Josie. 

Algernon did not reply to this, for he did not 
wish to admit that on this very morning his 
mother had come nearer to “scolding” him than, 
ever before in his life. 

Two hours later Salenna, Algernon and his wife 
were spinning along toward their country home, as 
fast as their spirited horses could take them. 

They soon reached Maple Grove and the remain- 
der of the day was spent pleasantly with no men- 
tion of business cares to mar their outward ap- 
pearance of happiness. 

The next day, however, Salenna called her son to 
counsel. 

“Algernon, my son,” she said, “what do you in- 
tend to do? You cannot go on like this. You 
see, you have spent four months in perfect idle- 
ness since your marriage, and, of course, you 
have been to a very great expense.” 

“Mother, I do not know what to do. You must 
advise me, for I am wholly unfit to cope with 
life. I have depended upon the resources of your 
good judgment and management, until, I must 
confess, I do not have one thought which I can 
call my own,” replied Algernon, almost piteously. 

For the first time in her life Salenna Gran- 
ville’s eyes opened to her son’s weakness. She 
now saw in his handsome face and manly form, 
the same inefficient, unconfirmed spirit that had 
always been his, but which she had hitherto failed 
to discover, and she now realized her past folly 
in not placing him more upon his own resources, 


126 Triumphs and Failures. 

thus teaching him the responsibilities of life. And 
as she looked upon him it became evident to her 
that she not only had her own family and reckless 
husband to support, but she still had a worthless 
son, with a family thrown in, whom she was ex- 
pected to maintain. 

^^ell, the only thing for you to do at present, 
is to remain here. It will save the expense of 
running two houses, for we will be compelled to 
economize until we can make a start again,’^ re- 
plied his mother, and the disappointment which 
she felt was quite perceptible in her voice. 

“Very well, mother, I will do as you wish, for 
I know your judgment is better than mine,’^ re- 
plied Algernon, submissively. 

“There comes Jack with the mail,” said Salenna 
as she caught sight of the red head owned by the 
boy, who had been sent into town to bring the 
mail. “I must go at once and see what he has 
brought,” and with these words she left Algernon 
to himself and his idle thoughts. 

She took the little packet and looked over its 
contents. There were two letters and a daily pa- 
per. One letter was addressed to herself and the 
other to her husband. 

She broke the seal of the large business-look- 
ing envelope and carefully perused the closely 
written lines, then folded the letter and placed 
it in its envelope with a sigh of evident relief. 
The letter was from the real estate firm, which 
she had visited a few days since, and contained the 
information that the tract of land which she had 
placed in their hands for disposal, could be sold 


A Shady Plot. 127 

and the bargain closed any day that she would 
come in to sign the papers. 

Salenna sat looking straight ahead of her for 
some moments, engaged in deep thought. 

All at once she remembered the paper and tak- 
ing it up looked it over. The first thing that met 
her eyes was an article headed : ^‘Fortunes quickly 
and easily made.” 

The article contained a glowing account of the 
cattle business in the South, and further men- 
tioned several men who had acquired vast wealth 
in a comparatively short time. 

She read and re-read it, to make sure that she 
misunderstood no part of it, and just when she 
had finished it for about the fifth time her husband 
entered the room. 

‘^What is that you have there, Salenna,” said 
Mr. Granville, pointing to the paper. 

"It is the C Daily,” she replied, passing it 

to him. 

"The C Daily ! I wonder how it came to be 

sent here !” exclaimed Granville, with assumed sur- 
prise. 

The same article confronted him which had 
80 quickly attracted the attention of his wife and 
he was very confident that she had read it, as it 
had been folded on the outside of the paper. 

That was all Edward Granville wished to know 
about the matter. He wanted his wife to read the 
article, and he was quite sure his reward would 
come later. 

The next day brought another paper, with a 
still brighter account, which was eagerly sought 
and read, both by Salenna and her husband, the 


128 Triumphs and Failures. 

latter closely watching the effect of it upon his 
wife. 

Salenna did not go at once to close the sale of 
land, but waited until she had thoroughly studied 
the matter, and decided upon some future course, 
when she should be in possession of the proceeds 
of the sale. 

These days were not lost upon Edward Gran- 
ville either. ^Tshaw!” he said to himself. ^The 
money which she will get will not be enough, if 
I am fortunate enough to get it in my possession, 
and I propose to have more ! Let me see, now, 
just how I can manage to increase the sum,” and 
he set to thinking out a scheme to suit the emer- 
gency. 

A few days later Salenna drove into town. She 
went straight to the real estate office, where she 
found everything in readiness to close the transac- 
tion. 

This done she started homeward with that one 
disturbing question paramount in her mind : “Dare 
I trust him? Dare I place the last thing at the 
mercy of his judgment, and, greatest of all, his 
integrity ?” 

Thus she battled with her own thoughts, until 
she reached home, for was not all the artifice and 
duplicity of a villainous and knavish man ar- 
rayed in secret but determined battle against the 
honor, force of character and strength of will of a 
woman? And with the greater power which evil 
exercises over good, and the firmness with which 
the right battles for her own, who could say which 
might win the well-waged conflict, or whether or 
not the triumphant one could be called a victor? 


129 


A Shady Plot. 

Salenna had read the accounts, which had pur- 
posely been thrown in her way, and had pondered 
over it day and night. She would weigh the 
weakness and inability of her son against the cun- 
ning and trickery of her husband and for the life 
of her she could not tell which was the least to 
be trusted in aiding her, for assistance she must 
have from one or the other, if she attempted ful- 
filling her present plans. 

Was any woman ever in such a predicament? A 
son with no manhood because he lacked courage 
and self-reliance, a husband devoid of manhood be- 
cause he was wanting in honor and integrity, and 
a squandered fortune to repair, all on her hands, 
was indeed a heavy burden. 

On the following day Edward Granville mounted 
his horse and rode away without a word to 
any one. He did not take the road leading into 
town but rode in the opposite direction. Salenna 
watched her husband as he rode away and won- 
dered greatly where, he could be going, but she was 
too proud to court his confidence and thus allowed 
him to ride away in silence. 

He rode until he was lost to sight, then turning 
his horse’s head, he went across the country, to 

strike another road leading into C . He soon 

reached his destination, and rode directly to the 
office of a Notary Public. 

Mr. Eandall was in his office and greeted his old 
friend very cordially, saying, ^'What brings you 
here, my friend? Something of importance, I 
know, by that look upon your face! What can 
I do for you?” 

^Tes, George, it is something of importance, and 


130 Triumphs and Failures. 

you are the only living man to whom I would 
come for assistance ! You have never failed me, 
and I do not believe you will now/^ replied Gran- 
ville. 

you’ve any secrets to keep, or any schemes 
to work, I’m your man, sir,” chuckled Eandall. 

^‘Well, I have both, George, and it all depends 
upon you now whether they go or not. Of course 
I do not expect you to keep mum for nothing, 
and will reward you. It is a scheme to get some 
money and the more I get the more I can pay 
you. Do you see the point?” said Granville. 

^^Oh, yes, I see it !” replied George Eandall, his 
snake-like eyes glittering at the mere mention of 
money being placed within his grasp. 

“Now, George, this is a daring bolt, and before 
I shall tell you one word, you must swear by the 
Heavens above you, that you will assist me, and 
never reveal anything to a living man,” said Gran- 
ville, very earnestly. 

“Good Lord, Ed, you don’t intend to murder 
your grandmother or some old miser for his 
money, do you?” cried Eandall, quaking at the 
very thought. 

“You silly man, what do you take me for, any- 
way? Me, murder! Why, you must be crazy, 
George !” replied Granville in astonishment. 

“No, I’m not crazy either, but you seemed so 
melancholy about it, and so dead set that I hold 
my tongue, why I couldn’t suppose anything else,’^ 
replied Eandall, somewhat subdued. 

^^ell, how is it? Are you with me or not?” 
demanded Granville impatiently. 

“If there’s any money in it, why I’m with you. 


A Shady Plot. 13 1 

heart and soul, sir ! Now for an explanation 
cried Eandall, slapping his friend on the shoulder. 

‘^Well, you know, George, that Mrs. Granville 
was quite wealthy when I married her, while 1 
did not have a dollar that I could call my own. 
Well, I always liked to spend money, which, I 
suppose was the reason why I had none. You 
know, too, that I always liked to have my own 
way about things, which is quite a concession on 
my part, but it is true nevertheless. 

“Well, Mrs. Granville had managed her own 
affairs, and successfully, too, for so many years, 
that when we were married she still remained at 
the head of the business. For three years I tried 
every means available to obtain possession of her 
property in a respectable manner, but in vain. 
At the end of those three years I had gained only 
a mere pittance. 

“I felt quite sure that if I ever gained posses- 
sion I could maintain it quite as successfully as 
she had done, so I determined upon a bold plunge 
to gain my point. I went to the depository and 
drew out all her surplus cash, with the exception 
of a few hundred and proceeded toward Denver.” 

“But what did Mrs. Granville do? Did she 
not try to intercept you?” interrupted Eandall, 
with much surprise. 

“No. Her pride would not let her do that, and 
I depended solely upon that to save me,” replied 
the narrator, and then he continued : 

^W/’ell, I wrote her to come to me, which I 
I very much wanted her to do, but I did not be- 
lieve she would do it, but she did. I never could 
understand why she acceded to my request so 


132 Triumphs and Failures. 

easily, unless she thought by so doing she might 
recover her loss. But I had not taken all that 
trouble for no glory, and she found me just as diffi- 
cult to dispossess as she herself had been. 

^^Well, I invested everything in the train busi- 
ness and the Indians captured it and I was left 
penniless and my wife’s fortune wrecked. Since 
then she has been managing her remaining prop- 
erty herself. 

^^She has sold half of her land in order to get 
a start again. I can work her for that money very 
easily, but what I want is this : I want to mort- 
gage the remainder of the farm for all I can 
get, go South — speculate — return — pay my indebt- 
edness, and she will never be any wiser for it.” 

Here Edward Granville paused. He was sur- 
prised at himself for making such a long recital, 
but there was a strong affinity between himself and 
his companion, and this was not the first time 
they had planned dark things together, so he felt 
no fear in unburdening his mind. 

^^Well, Granville, your head is level in trying 
to obtain the money, but I do not see the point; 
that is, I don’t see how you mean for us to get it. 
You did not say a word about that,” replied Ean- 
dall, reflectively. 

^^You see, Eandall, you work under these mort- 
gage companies, and you are a Notary Public, 
also. You will obtain the money and I will give 
the description of the property. Now the main 
point is to obtain Mrs. Granville’s signature to 
the papers. There is where our particular work 
will come in,” explained Granville. 

^‘You think there would be no likelihood of ob- 


A Shady Plot. 133 

taining her consent, then,” said Randall, thought- 
fully. 

^‘'No !” replied Granville, decidedly. ^‘The only 
way for us to do it is for me to affix the signa- 
ture and you to place the seal upon it.” 

‘^That’s pretty risky business, Granville. Sup- 
pose you should fail to make the money to release 
this property, then what would become of us ?” in- 
quired Randall. 

‘G will not fail ! I know I can make it ! But 
in case I should fail I mean to have this business 
solid enough that no harm can come to us,” re- 
plied Granville firmly. 

^^You have never yet enlightened me as to your 
intended methods of getting the signature,” cried 
Randall impatiently. 

“I have a little way of my own,” he said, ^fi)ut 
since you are to assist me I do not mind telling 
you. You see I have lots of her handwriting, and 
I shall take a paper with her name on it, lay it 
up against a window pane, where the sun is shin- 
ing against it, take the paper which I wish to 
have signed, place the line where the name is to 
be written directly over the signature, and the 
lines can be easily traced so no expert in the land 
could detect it from the genuine.” 

‘^That’s a fine scheme, my friend. Where did 
you learn it?” said Randall. 

^‘Oh, it^s no use in repeating where I learned it. 
You know the trick now and that is sufficient, is 
it not?” replied Granville. 

“If anything ever happens that this should be 
investigated you just stand pat and turn it over 
to the experts, if necessary. They will not detect 


134 Triumphs and Failures. 

it, never fear I If I fail, I will never be seen in 
this place again,” he continued. 

^^hen shall I begin on this, Granville?” in- 
quired Kandall. 

^‘To-day — to-morrow — any day. The sooner, 
the better, for I can’t stay here very much longer 
like this,” said Granville, and a few moments later 
he left the office. 


CHAPTER XIV. 


IN A FLOOD. 

Several days passed, and yet Salenna Gran- 
ville said nothing to her husband about the sale, 
or concerning the purchases which she antici- 
pated making. She was carefully weighing it all, 
before she ventured upon it. 

Edward Granville had begun to despair of his 
wife ever mentioning the subject, which lay so 
near his heart, but at last the spell was broken. 

^^Edward,^’ she said, ^Tiave you taken any note 
of the articles published in the late papers con- 
cerning the cheap stock in the South?” 

^^Why, yes, Salenna, I have been reading them, 
but would not allow myself to give them much 
thought, for I knew we would be unable to invest,” 
he replied, placing great stress upon the pronoun 
'%e,” whereas only a year since it would have 
been a very forcible ^T.” 

^'Do you think it would be a good investment?” 
queried his wife. 

certainly do ! I do not see why a man could 
not make a fortune in a few years if he would 
manage well,” he replied. 

‘Tf it were you, Salenna, everything you touched 
would turn to gold, and you would soon be so 


136 Triumphs and Failures. 

wealthy you would have to aid greatly in chari- 
table work to make use of your surplus cash/’ he 
continued, with his voice full of admiration. 

“I might not be so fortunate in coming years, 
as I have been in the past, for it really does seem 
as if all good fortune had deserted me,” replied 
Salenna, with a little sigh. 

^^Good fortune has not deserted you, my little 
wife. Our misfortunes have all been due to my 
selfishness and foolhardiness, and is no fault of 
yours at all,” replied Granville, with well-feigned 
penitence. 

^‘1 tell you, Salenna, I will never go into any- 
thing headlong again. I am completely at your 
service now and am going to do just as you dic- 
tate,” he very submissively continued. 

Edward Granville knew just how to win his 
wife over. He watched her keenly, as he finished 
his recital, and sighed with a satisfied air. 

really do believe that Edward has made up 
his mind to do better in the future. He does not 
act like the same man. I believe he is thoroughly 
repentant of the past, and if he is, why, I can 
safely trust him with my plans,” soliloquized Sa- 
lenna, when she was alone again. 

Edward Granville realized that his wife was 
gradually yielding to the power of his almost 
magnetic influence, and he plied his wiles with 
a greater determination to win than ever before. 
He would insist upon her driving with him, rid- 
ing with him, and, in fact, he managed to keep 
himself almost always in her presence with his 
untiring devotion. 

In the meantime he received word from George 


In a Flood. 


137 


Randall that everything was ready and waiting 
his command, but he did not wish to complete 
this business with said Randall until he was quite 
sure of the money which was in his wife’s posses- 
sion, for that would be equivalent to an open con- 
fession of his crime. 

He was not kept in suspense long, however, for 
on that very day Salenna laid the whole matter 
before him. 

She told him of her ambitions and desires, and 
also of the money which she had received from 
the sale of the land, in a hesitating, faltering way. 
She had been so completely beguiled by his smooth, 
winning words and kindly manner of late, that 
she was almost ashamed of herself, for having 
treated him with such utter indifference. 

^^Why, Salenna, have you really and truly sold 
the land and never told me a word about it?” 
he exclaimed with affected surprise. ^^Well, I do 
not blame you for not telling me; I am such a 
blockhead.” 

"Well, Edward, I will atone for my naughti- 
ness now, by sending you as my representative, 
if you will accept that as a peace offering,” re- 
plied Salenna laughingly. 

"I have told you before that I am yours to com- 
mand,” he replied with assumed gravity. 

Thus it was settled, and a few days later found 
Edward Granville mounted upon the best saddler 
the farm possessed, and turning his face South- 
ward, he rode away — away from a wife who now, 
enshrouded by a veil of reinstated confidence, 
trusted him fully — away, with promises of faith- 
fulness to her trust upon his lips, while in his 


138 Triumphs and Failures. 

heart and in his past lay one of the blackest mis- 
deeds which the human mind could conceive — so 
black indeed that only murder itself could have 
been more atrocious. 

Yet ignorance is sometimes bliss, and Salenna 
Granville was a happier woman because of her 
blissful ignorance of the true facts. 

After Edward Granville had left his home and 
family many were the conflicting and turbulent 
reflections that invaded the mind of his wife. 
Each day she would greatly blame herself for hav- 
ing allowed him to go upon such a long and dan- 
gerous journey alone; and just as often she would 
bitterly reproach herself for being so weak in 
spirit, as to allow him to beguile her into the snare 
of turning the last of her means into his posses- 
sion, and at the mercy of his honor. For had he 
not deceived and robbed her once, and might not 
the same evil spirit predominate again? 

Such were the many vexing questions which 
propounded themselves to her mind, but later on 
when she received his letters and all was well with 
him, she would laugh at her foolish fancies and 
try again to be cheerful. But ah, how little she 
dreamed that the very roof which sheltered her 
was heavily encumbered by the evil doings of 
that same transgressor, else her troubled fancies 
could not have been so easily allayed. 

One day a letter came, of which she seemed 
more eager to devour the contents than any she 
had received before, and as she hastily glanced 
over its closely written pages she exclaimed : “Oh, 
Algernon, Edward wishes that I should meet him 
on his way home — he is coming now \” 


In a Flood. 


m 


''But you will not tliink of going, motlier?’^ ob- 
jected Algernon for the first time in his aimless 
life. "Let me go instead he said. 

"Algernon, you have never had any experience 
in an3rthing, therefore I could not think of let- 
ting you go ! You may remain here and manage 
things while we are both away, and get a little 
practical knowledge in that way, but on a smaller 
scale,” replied his mother. 

This ended Algernon's objections, for he was 
very easily dissuaded from any purpose, if it was 
anything very difficult, and he did not offer his 
services again. 

"Well, when do you start, mother?” he finally 
raised energy to inquire. 

"Day after to-morrow, if possible, Algernon,” 
she replied. 

The next day was a very busy one at the Gran- 
ville household. Poor young Mrs. Forresman 
was all of a nervous fiutter to think that "dear 
mama Granville” was going away to "sure de- 
struction.” Carrie was wild with delight at the 
prospect of so soon seeing her papa again; poor 
little Harold was bemoaning the sad fate of being 
left at home, while Algernon — indolent, lazy Al- 
gernon — was, of course, sorry to have his mother 
go, because he knew that when she had gone there 
would be a great deal more required of him. 

Being very anxious to join her husband for 
those reasons known only to herself, on the day 
set for her departure Salenna, accompanied by 
Carrie, a trusty man, and Sarah — the woman 
who had crossed the plains so many times with 


140 Triumphs and Failures. 

her, left on their journey to meet Edward Gran- 
ville. 

They traveled overland to the Missouri river, 
and there they boarded a steamboat and proceeded 
by water as far as Lexington. Here they left the 
boat, and traveled on to the Southwest. 

One night, some four days after they had left 
the boat, they found lodging at a little farmhouse 
near the Neosho river. 

A heavy cloud hung in the Southwest, but as 
the inhabitants of that section of country were 
accustomed to such phenomena and as nothing 
ever came of it, no attention was given it by them, 
but Salenna, however, was just a little disturbed 
and kept vigilant watch upon the threatening 
heavens. 

About midnight it began raining. It rained — 
it poured — it rained such as had only been wit- 
nessed by her once in her life before. The cease- 
less patter kept up until daybreak, and when the 
darkness began to break away and the gray dawn 
turned into a hazy daylight, Salenna found that 
the house which had sheltered them was entirely 
surrounded by a sea of roaring water. 

The other occupants of the house had slept 
through it all, or at least they seemed to take no 
notice of it, and did not arise until called by her. 
Then the whole household became in an uproar 
of confusion in a few moments. 

The water rose steadily and surely; first up to 
the doorstep, then farther on into the fioor and 
gradually crept up the walls. It had attained sev- 
eral inches in depth upon the floor, before the rain 
ceased and the heavy clouds broke away, allowing 


In a Flood. 


141 

the sun to come forth in all her Kansas glory. 

^^Shall we try to escape or shall we remain here 
and risk a greater flow of water?’’ was the query 
of one to another. 

They had all passed an opinion or made a sug- 
gestion, with the exception of Salenna, who had re- 
mained silent. 

After they had all spoken, and arrived at no 
conclusions whatever she spoke. have once 
experienced a flood similar to this, and it is my 
advice for you all to remain here, unless we are 
threatened with more rain. In that event it might 
be well enough to try to move out. If I under- 
stand this location the buildings are somewhat ele- 
vated, and when we left them we would find the 
water a great deal deeper than here. You have 
no boat, and the only alternative that I can see 
is for us to remain here. The water cannot pos- 
sibly destroy the house unless it should rain a very 
great deal more, and I think there is considerable 
danger in going into this water at the present 
time.” 

So it was decided that they should remain there, 
and make the best of the unpleasant situation. 

The breakfast had been prepared and eaten be- 
fore the water had intruded upon them, but when 
the stomachs of our unfortunate friends began 
to sound warning of the approaching time for an- 
other repast, the water had attained the depth of 
six inches. 

It was growing very difficult for them to work 
under such exasperating circumstances, but by the 
ceaseless struggle of stepping from box to chair, 
from chair to stool, and from stool to stovehearth. 


142 Triumphs and Failures. 

a frugal meal was prepared and partaken of with 
a relish. 

The water still crept up inch by inch until by 
eix o^clock it had risen to such a height upon the 
little cooking stove that it was impossible for them 
to cook at all, with it in its present position. 

‘T have it/^ said Salenna, when the poor woman 
was through lamenting the deplorable state 
of affairs, and giving forth in plain terms her in- 
ability to cook ^‘ary bite.” 

^^Well, ef you’ve got anything ter say, why let’s 
hear it, fur it seems ter me as you’re the only 
un what knows how ter do,” growled the poor dis- 
tressed woman. 

“Well, you see, there is a good strong box which 
is some taller than the water is deep. We can 
have the men set the box here by the bedside, and 
place the stove upon it ; then you and I can sit here 
upon the bed, and prepare what they shall bring 
us. Do you not see that we can get along nicely 
that way?” explained Salenna. 

“Yes, we kin do that, but who on the arth would 
hev ever thought about that, but you,” laughed 
the now thoroughly pleased dame. 

“Now,” continued Salenna, “I am going to 
watch the water while we prepare our meal, to 
learn if it is still rising.” 

So saying, she took a sharp knife and cut 
notches in a stick and then fastened it to the wall 
with the lower end of the stick just below the 
surface of the water and the notches, which were 
about an inch apart, extending upward above the 
water’s edge. 

The supper, which was prepared in such an un- 


In a Flood. 


143 


usual manner, proved to be the most appetizing 
meal that any of them had ever partaken of. 
Salenna declared in after years that she had never 
eaten a meal so palatable as this one. 

After they had finished their much enjoyed re- 
past, Salenna examined her self-devised water 
gauge. She found that during the hour which 
had elapsed since she placed it there, the water 
had not risen any, which was a source of comfort 
to them all. 

Night came on and found a miserable-looking 
little band of people (although their spirits were 
brightened by the continual witty and refreshing 
conversation of Salenna,) seated upon the two 
beds which were in the room, counting the weary 
hours as they dragged slowly by. 

By and by the eyelids of the weary watchers be- 
gan to grow heavy, and, as if by intuition, they all 
turned to Salenna for advice, for it was indeed 
a very gloomy-looking prospect and none of them 
dared venture a suggestion in the presence of their 
^^Guiding Star,’^ as they termed her. 

‘G would suggest that a portion of the party 
should sleep during the first hours of night, while 
the remainder keep watch of the water, and to 
warn us if we are threatened with more rain. 
Then, at an appointed time, the sleepers should 
be awakened to keep vigil, while the others sleep,"” 
she replied. 

It was soon arranged that the women should 
sleep the early hours of the night and Salenna 
gave strict orders as she retired that she should 
be called at two o’clock the following morning. 

The next niorning the water was at a stand- 


144 Triumphs and Failures. 

still. The inhabitants of the little house were 
becoming accustomed to their peculiar surround- 
ings, and it did not seem nearly so bad to sit upon 
the bedside, and cook a meal upon the little stove 
perched upon a box as it had the previous day. 

All day long they watched the water^s every 
ripple or motion, with the hope of detecting its 
fall. They saw no evidence of* it receding, how- 
ever, until late in the afternoon. Eagerly they 
greeted this and faithfully they watched for every 
indication in their favor. At nightfall it had 
fallen an inch, and by midnight the space which 
it had left measured two inches. 

On the morning of the third day the water had 
left the floor of the house and the angry current 
was now bearing its great bosom of water away 
in furious haste and they all felt a great sense 
of relief as they watched its great waves fairly 
tumbling over each other in their race for a better 
outlet. 

^Tf the water falls at this rate I shall go out 
of here at three o'clock this afternoon, for three 
days of this is enough for me," said Salenna as 
she watched the swiftly receding waves. 

At just the hour mentioned Jim drove the team 
round to the door. 

^^Well, ma’am, where be you goin’ to sit?" in- 
terrogated Jim as his mistress appeared at the 
door. 

am not going to sit anywhere just at present, 
James, I am going to stand in the front of the 
wagon, and drive this team out of here," replied 
Salenna. 


In a Flood. 


145 

'^Hadn’t you better let me do the drivin’, 
ma’am/’ queried the perplexed Jim. 

will do the driving, James,” in a tone that 
silenced Jim’s objections at once. 

Slowly and carefully the horses plodded on 
through the water which was sometimes deep and 
again scarcely hiding their ankles until they had 
covered the half mile of watery expanse. 

Joyfully they greeted the dry land and the sun- 
shine again, for they felt as though they had just 
escaped from prison. 

Jim now took charge of the driving, while Sa- 
lenna selected a cosy place, and seated herself 
there to pilot Jim’s movements. 

They had driven only a few miles when they 
found a beautiful spot and there they pitched 
their tent to await the falling of the stream. 

We will now return to Edward Granville, who 
had reached Texas and was soon ready to begin 
his northward journey with his cattle. 

He traveled slowly onward for three weeks and 
the poor animals were becoming footsore and 
weary, so much so, indeed, that it was necessary 
that they should rest for some days. 

This necessitated a delay and poor Granville be- 
gan to wonder how he should spend those long, 
weary days, for he had become actually feverish 
with his anxious haste to again see his wife. Each 
day seemed an age to him and he was always glad 
to see the setting of the sun for that assured him 
that he was one day nearer the time when he 
should meet her. 

On the morning of their first day of their ‘fiay 
over,” Granville sat dreamily looking into his 


146 Triumphs and Failures. 

camp fire, thinking of how he was to spend that 
day and several others, following, when a happy 
thought occurred to him. 

^^Why,^^ he said to himself, ^'Salenna has had 
plenty of time to be well on her way to meet me, 
which I am quite sure she will do, and why could 
I not leave the cattle in charge of my men, at 
this place near here, and go to meet her, while the 
brutes are taking their rest? 

^^Yes, I will do that if those parties are willing, 
and I will go this very day,” he continued as he 
arose, went out to where his horse was lariated, 
saddled him and rode up to a little log cabin, 
where the parties in question lived. 

He found the owner, a tall, straight, dark-look- 
ing man with large obliquely set black eyes, very 
black straight hair, which hung loosely about his 
shoulders, and thick lips, sitting moodily upon the 
little front porch of his humble home. 

^^Good morning, sir!” cheerily called out Gran- 
ville, as he rode up to the low rail fence which sur- 
rounded the little cabin. 

^^How 1” grunted the half-breed Indian, for such 
he proved to be. 

Granville did not wait for an invitation to dis- 
mount for he knew that if he did he might sit 
there upon his horse until doomsday. He well un- 
derstood the reticence of the half-breed and full- 
blood Indians, relative to ready conversation with 
a white person, so he dismounted, stepped over 
the fence, walked up to the porch, where he 
seated himself, with as much of a homelike air as 
if he had always lived there. 

He did not mention his business nor attempt 


In a Flood. 


147 


any further conversation at present (for he under- 
stood too well how to appeal to the heart of the 
Indian, but sat there for some time, complacently 
whistling a little air. 

The Indian sat there, motionlessly staring into 
the distance, seemingly forgetful of the presence of 
any human being, until he was again aroused from 
his peaceful reverie by his late intruder, who had 
drawn from his pocket a small revolver, and was 
holding it out to him as a token of friendship. 

A broad smile crept over the face of the Indian 
as he took the little weapon and carefully exam- 
ined it. 

^^Do you shoot ?” inquired Granville. 

^Tnjun shooV^ replied the dusky man. 

^^hite man shoot better Injun shoot,^’ replied 
Granville, banteringly. ‘^Would you like to try 

itr 

The half-breed nodded his assent, arose, went 
out to the fence, and set up a pole, to which he 
fastened a small piece of paper, which was in- 
tended as a mark at which they were to shoot. 

Granville nodded his approval of the proceeding, 
and again passed the gun to the Indian; but he 
shook his head, saying, ‘^^I^Hiite man shoot first.” 

Granville took aim at the little mark and fired, 
missing it entirely; he fired again and again, until 
the weapon was empty, purposely missing the mark 
each time. 

With a huge grin upon his face that reached 
to the back of his ears, the half-breed took the 
gun from the hand of his antagonist, and tak- 
ing aim he fired, striking the center of the mark, 
and never moving his hand until the gun was re- 


148 Triumphs and Failures. 

lieved of every load, each time striking very near 
to the center. 

''Bravo I” cried Granville, slapping his rival 
on the shoulder. 

He knew that now the conquest was won, and 
he could talk freely with this peculiar man, but 
had he not touched the right chord he might have 
remained there a week, and the half-breed would 
still have been unapproachable. 

Granville now mentioned his errand to his new- 
ly-made friend, who listened very attentively, and 
when he had finished, he replied, "Leaf ’em here 
one week — one month — one year — be all right; 
no pay — no pay for this Injun,” and Cad Wads- 
worth shook his head very meaningly. 

The two then rode out together, to review the 
herd in order to familiarize the new manager 
with his charge, and then they both returned to 
the cabin to dine, for Wadsworth had insisted that 
his white friend should take dinner with him. 

Before returning to the cabin, Granville gave 
instructions to his men and also informed them 
that he would return in a month from that time. 

After the frugal meal in the little cabin was 
over, Granville shook hands with his friend, 
mounted his horse, and soon disappeared in the 
distance. 

That afternoon after he left his Indian friend 
in the southern part of the Indian Territory, he 
traveled many miles, and his eagerness increased 
with each mile of his travel, until he was al- 
most wild with anxiety. 

"Some way I feel that I must find my wife 
at once! I never was superstitious, but I have 


In a Flood. 


149 


a presentiment that it is now or never, and I 
mnst lose no time/’ he said to himself, as he 
urged his tired horse along after several days 
of hard riding. 

Just at nightfall he reached the west bank of 
the Neosho river. He could see that all the bot- 
toms along the river had been flooded and that 
the banks were yet brimming full of defying wa- 
ter. He did not wish to risk too great a dan- 
ger, and decided to stay on that side until morn- 
ing. 

Granville was up with the sun the next morn- 
ing and mounting his horse, he rode down to 
the river. It was yet rushing and roaring wildly, 
but to a man like him it did not seem very dan- 
gerous. 

As he stood there watching the river, his eyes 
wandered in the distance for an instant, and he 
could plainly see smoke curling up through the 
clear morning air. After watching it a while, 
he became convinced that it was the smoke from 
a camp fire. 

wager my old hat that that is Salenna’s 
camp fire yonder, and I shall see at once !” cried 
Edward Granville in great excitement. 

No sooner thought than done. In an instant 
he was divesting himself of his clothing and mak- 
ing ready for a bold stroke. He removed all 
clothing which he thought would burden him, 
should he be compelled to swim, tied them se- 
curely to his saddle, mounted his horse and 
plunged into the stream. 

It was a desperate struggle against the wild 
current of the stream, but the horse was a fine 


150 Triumphs and Failures. 

swimmer, and did heroic work in the few mo- 
ments which he battled with the waves. He 
reached the opposite bank in safety, bearing his 
rider in an almost semi-conscious state. 

Granville had really been ill for several days, 
but the great strain of anxiety had kept him up. 
He became faint after entering the water, and 
it was with a great effort that he kept his sad- 
dle during the fierce struggle of the animal 
against the heavy odds. 

As soon as the horse had gained dry ground 
again, he slid from its back and lay down upon the 
ground. He managed to open the little satchel 
which had been his constant companion through 
so many miles of travel, and drew from it a small 
flask containing some brandy of which he par- 
took and then lay down again. He soon felt re- 
vived, arose and rode on in the direction of the 
camp fire. 

He looked back at the dark, rushing water, 
and shuddered as he thought of how narrowly 
he had escaped death in its cold embrace, and of 
the terrible consequences should he never be per- 
mitted to reach Salenna alive. 

He did not feel that he was of any importance 
to her at all — on the contrary, he knew that he 
had always been detrimental to her, but he real- 
ized that it was necessary for him to live, to 
place that herd of stock in her possession, else 
all would be lost. 

That mortgage which he had so feloniously 
placed upon his wife’s home, had traveled before 
him day and night like a deadly scourge, and he 


In a Flood. 


was continually haunted by the fear of failure 
and its direful end. 

He rode on to the little camp, but when he was 
yet quite a distance away, he recognized the 
team which was lariated on the grass, and he rode 
up and addressed Salenna herself before he was 
recognized by any of the party. 


Triumphs and Failures. 


1I52 


CHAPTEE XV. 

AN UNTIMELY DEATH. 

*'Man heareth not the knock of Death, 

And he enters unhidden** 

Edward, can it be possible that this is 
you?’^ exclaimed Salenna, as she scrutinized him 
closely to ascertain whether or not she was mis- 
taken. ^‘You are only a ghost of your former 
self 

^‘^Yes, Salenna, this is what is left of me/’ he 
replied rather mournfully, ‘‘^but I will be better 
now that I am with you again.” 

“You are ill, Edward, and you must lie down 
and be quiet until you are better,” replied Sa- 
lenna sympathetically, and a few moments later 
Edward Granville was lying upon a comfortable 
bed which had sprung from somewhere in a very 
mysterious manner, and was being ministered to 
by gentle and loving hands. 

Several times during the day the sick man 
tried to talk to his wife, but failed; for when- 
ever he attempted it he would rave like a mad- 
man with the terrible pain that he suffered. 

Salenna insisted that he should be quiet, but he 
seemed to have something he wished to say. She 


An Untimely Death. 153 

thought that he would be better by the next morn- 
ing, and did not wish that he should talk while 
suffering so. 

All night long she watched by the side of her 
husband, and at last he fell into a troubled sleep, 
which was disturbed by repeated murmurings. 

The next morning Granville was very much 
worse, and Salenna was now thoroughly alarmed. 

She called Jim into counsel and bade him ride 
to the nearest town, which was twenty miles dis- 
tant, secure a physician and bring him as quickly 
as possible. 

Jim, too, had become very much alarmed at his 
master^s condition, and realizing that whatever 
was to be done, must be done quickly, he rode 
toward the town at as great speed as his good 
judgment thought his horse could stand for so 
great a distance. 

* * * 4i«4c*«:|c 

After Jim had left Salenna never withdrew 
from the bedside of her husband. He became 
more restless than at any time previous and his 
mind wandered and he spoke of things of which 
she had never before heard. 

^^Yes, George, it’s the mortgage! I want it 
fixed before — before and here his murmur- 

ings broke off and he was quiet for a few mo- 
ments. 

'^The cattle are good ones. Cad, and will more 
than pay the mortgage,” he continued in a slow 
uncertain way. 

Salenna was bewildered beyond expression, for 
she had become convinced that there was some- 


154 Triumphs and Failures. 

thing upon his mind which worried him greatly, 
but as to what it could be she could not even 
suggest to herself. 

As she sat there watching the features of the 
sick man a horrible fear seized upon her which 
threatened to tear her already overtaxed nerves 
asunder. It suddenly occurred to her that Gran- 
ville looked more like a corpse than a living man, 
and she suddered visibly as the horror of the sit- 
uation dawned upon her. 

Her thoughts flew to the past like lightning, 
they viewed the present situation and peered into 
the mystic vale of the future, and for a few mo- 
ments after this terrible awakening, the conflict 
of emotions which raged within her bosom no 
tongue or pen could describe, but it was only mo- 
mentarily. 

She arose as if all future actions were deflnitely 
settled in her mind and stood by the bedside. She 
felt of the invalid^s pulse, which aroused him and 
caused him to open his eyes and he looked about 
him in a blank, dazed way, until his eyes fell 
upon his wife, who was bending over him. 

As his gaze fell upon her a faint smile passed 
over his wan face, and a thin, eager hand was 
stretched forth as if beseeching her compassion. 

^‘What is it, Edward?’’ she asked as she took 
the outstretched hand. ^^You are better now, are 
you not? Sarah, bring the toddy, please,” she 
added, without waiting for a reply from the in- 
valid. 

*^Here, Edward, drink this, and you will feel 
better,” she said as she tenderly raised his head 
from the pillow. 


An Untimely Death. 155 

When he had partaken of the spirits, he lay 
qnite still tor a few moments. Suddenly he 
turned his great dark eyes full upon his wife, and 
said : 

‘^Salenna, it will all be over with me soon ! 
I must soon cross the dark river and I — must — 
tell — ^you ! Yes, I — want you to know,” and here 
he paused as if to gain strength for further re- 
hearsal. 

Salenna did not interrupt him when he began 
again, for she fully realized that all he said might 
be true, and she also realized, that not to know 
what was on his mind, might mean destruction 
for herself and family. 

bought the cattle,” he continued, ^^and left 
them — with Cad — with Cad 

Salenna administered another potion which re- 
vived him again, and he resumed his broken re- 
cital. 

‘^In — the Creek Nation — with — Wadsworth,” he 
continued. 

^^Did you leave the cattle with Cad Wadsworth, 
Edward?” inquired Salenna, trying to help him, 
for it was painful to witness the effort which 
talking cost the dying man. 

A smile passed over his face, and he nodded 
assentingly. 

^^How many did you purchase, Edward?” con- 
tinued Salenna, thinking that by asking the ques- 
tions, she could gain a great deal of information 
without so much worry upon the dying. 

''Four hundred,” he replied. 

Salenna knew that she had learned enough 
from him to enable her to find the cattle and get 


156 Triumphs and Failures. 

possession of them, and she did not tax him with 
further questions, for it was evident to her that 
the end was near. 

Since his last words he had lain quite still 
with his eyes closed. Suddenly he sat upright 
in bed and called, ^‘Salenna, you must get them 
— ^you must, I say, for that mortgage — ^will — 
will 

He fell back upon his pillow and breathed his 
last before his wife could reach him. 

Salenna fell upon her knees by the side of her 
dead, and burying her face in the pillow beside 
the ashen face, she cried out in the bitter anguish 
of her overwrought soul. ^^Oh, my God, what 
have I done in this world that such sorrows 
should be visited upon me?^' and she wept bitter 
tears — such as she had never shed before. She 
wept as she did not when she read the sad news 
of the fate of her beloved William, for in weep- 
ing for William Forresman, she mourned for one 
whom she had loved and respected, and one whose 
love was reciprocal ; but this sorrow was of a kind 
that few ever experience, for she had loved this 
man, yet in her heart she knew he was not de- 
serving of it and the burden of this new sorrow 
seemed even greater to bear than on that other 
eventful day when the fatal letter reached her 
that rent in twain her first love. 

Granville had sinned grievously and had been 
forgiven by the pure and honest soul of his wife 
— ^he had sinned again, and had been forgiven 
only by his God, for Salenna as yet remained in 
ignorance of the second terrible wrong he had 
done her. 


An Untimely Death. 157 

Oh! who could tell the mortal anguish of the 
penitent and contrite heart of that dying soul, 
or who could enumerate the bitter pangs of sor- 
row, the blighted lives and darkened homes that 
might have been spared and the feet that were 
wont to trod in erring paths that might have 
known the better way had this one misguided 
soul been spared to speak only a few words more. 
But, alas, the call of Death was too long un- 
heeded, and the peace which might have been 
made upon this earth passed away with the spirit 
of Edward Granville. 

After the first storm of her passionate grief 
was over, Sarah approached her mistress and 
kindly led her away from her dead. 

About half an hour after Edward Granville 
had passed away, the physician, who had been 
sent for, arrived. When he entered his eyes fell 
upon a scene which the storms of a lifetime could 
never erase from his memory. 

There before him on the rude bed lay the form 
of a man, from whose ashen face and marble 
brow death had not effaced its manly beauty, and 
just across the room sat a woman with her beau- 
tiful head bowed with a sorrow such as few ever 
experience — a sorrow so bitter that no one could 
offer words of comfort, with her faithful servant 
standing in silent and tearful grief beside her. 

For a moment the kind physician could not 
speak, for the scene before him had touched his 
manly heart and stirred his sympathetic nature 
to the very depths of his soul, but finally master- 
ing his own feelings, he advanced toward Mrs. 
Granville and said; 


158 Triumphs and Failures. 

dear lady, I perceive that I am too late 
to be of assistance to anyone but yourself, and 
I now place myself wholly at your service/’ 

Mrs. Granville felt relieved as she listened to 
the kind words of the gentleman before her, for 
she suddenly realized that although she was a 
stranger in a strange land, God had endowed 
these people with the same loving hearts and will- 
ing hands to administer comfort to the bereft 
as she would have found elsewhere. 

Dr. Hallman began at once giving directions 
to Sarah and he soon had the dead neatly cared 
for. About the time he was finishing his task 
of undertaking Jim rode up. 

He was despatched at once by the doctor to 
the nearest houses to inform the people of the 
sad occurrence and soon a number of the neigh- 
bors came to the assistance of the bereaved fam- 
ily. 

Dr. Hallman now bade Mrs. Granville a sad 
farewell, for his heart was indeed sad to see so 
beautiful and refined a lady in such terrible 
trouble, and rode back to town. 

The kind people remained with Mrs. Granville, 
and the following day when the birds were sing- 
ing and the sun shone brightly and all nature 
seemed to bespeak the peace of the departed, they 
laid to rest on the hillside overlooking the river, 
all that was mortal of Edward Granville. 

After the last sad rites of the funeral were con- 
cluded, Mrs. Granville returned to the camp 
which now looked so weird in its strange, soli- 
tary loneliness. 

Little Carrie had lingered behind with Jim 


An Untimely Death. 159 

and Sarah, which left her to herself for some 
time. She sat down to think — ^to think, not of 
the dark, forbidding past, with all its miserable 
sufferings, for Salenna Granville was one who 
would let ^^the dead past bury its dead,” as far 
as was possible for her to do, but of the awful 
present, with all its seemingly insurmountable dif- 
ficulties and the gloomy future, with all its deep, 
unfathomed mysteries, and to try as best she could 
to shape out some course of procedure in accord- 
ance with the peculiar circumstances that sur- 
rounded her. 

She thought of all that her late husband had 
(said during his fatal illness — ^had weighed each 
word carefully, and she became thoroughly con- 
vinced that there was something about a mort- 
gage which he would have explained to her had 
he lived long enough to do so, and she verily be- 
lieved it to be something of which he did not wish 
to tell her until he realized that he was indeed 
dying, then it was too late. 

Mrs. Granville fixed this much steadfastly in 
her mind, but as to the nature of the mortgage, 
she could think of nothing that would throw any 
light upon it or relieve her mind of the awful 
dread of its consequences. 

Her mind drifted to what he had told her rela- 
tive to the cattle, and she had just decided in 
her own mind what she should do about them, 
when Carrie, Sarah and Jim entered, disturbing 
her reverie. This brought vividly to her mind 
the loneliness of the situation, and she earnestly 
wished there was some way of escape before the 
night drew near. 


i6o Triumphs and Failures. 

Just as these thoughts were passing through 
her weary, troubled mind, a shaggy head was 
thrust in at the door, and a husky but kind voice 
addressed her: “Say, ma’am, wife and me jist 
thought how lonesome like it ’ould be here fur 
you, and if you will go, you will be mighty wel- 
come to come home with us.” 

^^Oh, thank you, Mr. Dawson,” (for that was 
the name attached to the shaggy head) exclaimed 
Mrs. Granville, gratefully, ‘%’e shall be only 
too pleased to go, for I really dread the loneli- 
ness of the night.” 

^‘'Well, then, you wimmen and the little gal 
kin jist ride over with us, and the man kin fetch 
over the team,” continued Mr. Dawson. 

Mrs. Granville, Carrie and Sarah climbed into 
the clumsy lumber wagon with Mr. Dawson and 
his family and rattled away, soon leaving the 
scene of the late tragedy far behind. 

Jim soon hitched his team to the wagon and' 
followed, for he was very superstitious, and the 
shadows of night were already beginning to 
gather, and he had no desire to remain around 
the weird little house so lately enshrouded by 
death any longer than was absolutely necessary. 

Mrs. Granville thoroughly appreciated the 
plain but generous hospitality of her newly-found 
friends, and she thanked them more in her heart 
than words of mouth could express. 

The next morning Mrs. Granville was astir 
quite early, for she knew that there was no time 
to be lost in looking after the cattle which had 
been left by her late husband. She inquired of 
Mr. Dawson where some good, trusty men might 


An Untimely Death. i6i 

be found, whose services she could secure to go 
with her to the Texas line for the cattle. 

^‘What, ma’am ! You be intendin’ to go your- 
self?” exclaimed the astonished man, when she 
had told him of her plans. 

^^Yes, Mr. Dawson, I shall go myself, for it is 
of such vast importance, that I could not think 
of trusting it to disinterested parties alone ! They 
would have no legal claim, and might fail to get 
them,” replied Mrs. Granville very quietly. 

Mr. Dawson informed her where such help 
could be secured, and offered his services in go- 
ing to see them, which she gratefully accepted. 

^^When do you wish to go, ma’am?” inquired 
Mr. Dawson, as he mounted his horse to go. 

^‘To-day, if it is possible,” she replied. 

He was not gone very long until he returned, 
accompanied by the two men whom he had en- 
gaged for Mrs. Granville. When he entered the 
house he went straightway to the kitchen, where 
he found his wife preparing the noonday meal. 

Mandy looked up as her husband entered. 

^^Wall, Mandy,” said John, ^Vhat do you think 
uv me goin’ with that ’ere woman? It trou- 
bles me to see her go off with jest them ’ere men 
what she has got. I hain’t mentioned it to her, 
for I wanted to know what you thought about 
it afore I said anything, so ef you thought I’d 
better stay to home, then there’s no harm done.” 

^^There, John Dawson, that’s jest like you, fur 
the world ! All the purty wimmen you see, you 
be after goin’ off wid ’em !” exclaimed Mandy, 
shaking her fat sides with laughter, as she noticed 
the little of John Dawson’s face that was visible 


1 62 Triumphs and Failures. 

from under his shaggy beard, turn red with 
mixed embarrassment and anger. 

— why, of course, I’d go! She’s a lady, 
every inch of her, and I fear for her safety my- 
self. The big gal and the little one, too, air 
goin’ to stay here with me,” replied Mandy Daw- 
son more seriously, now that her little bundle of 
fun was over. 

“You never kin git down to business ’thout 
plaguin’ a feller first,” growled the rather dis- 
comfited Mr. Dawson. 

“Wall, Mandy, ef you really mean it, why, then 
I’m off with the crowd,” resumed John, after a 
moment’s thoughtful silence. 

“I never wuz more’n earnest in my whole life, 
John. I really think it’s your dooty to go,” re- 
plied his wife more seriously than was her wont 
to be. 

John Dawson left the kitchen and repaired to 
the sitting room, where he found Mrs. Granville 
busily engaged in arranging details with the late 
arrivals for their departure. 

“I hev come in. Mis’ Granville, to offer my serv- 
ices ef you will accept ’em,” he said. “I feel like 
as I orter to go along, kinder as your father, you 
know,” he added, apologetically. 

“I cannot tell you, Mr. Dawson, how much 
I appreciate your solicitude of my welfare. I 
shall be so thankful for your company,” replied 
Mrs. Granville, with her eyes filled with tears 
of gratitude toward the kind-hearted man. 

Mrs. Granville had secretly hoped that Mr. 
Dawson would tender his services, for brave and 
courageous as she was, and as many perils as she 


An Untimely Death. 163 

had passed through, she felt that this was the 
most daring plunge of her strange, eventful life, 
yet she did not shrink from the inevitable. 

She realized that if the money invested down 
on the line of Texas, should slip from her grasp, 
it would all be over with her, and she would be 
left destitute. With these thoughts bearing so 
heavily upon her, she had little time to consider 
the hazardousness of her undertaking, but, how- 
ever, she realized enough of it to be greatly re- 
lieved when the kind old man proposed to accom- 
pany her. 


/ 


164 Triumphs and Failures. 


CHAPTEK XYI. 

A FRIEND IN NEED. 

Immediately after the noonday meal, the lit- 
tle party went slowly over the prairie hills to 
the south. 

Day after day the party traveled on over hills, 
across vast prairies and wooded streams, without 
any occurrences unusual to travelers of this fash- 
ion. 

They had been out about eight days when Mrs. 
Granville told her men that she was very sure 
they could not be far from their destination, and 
advised them to seek information. 

They called a halt by the side of a pretty 
stream, intending to spend the night there. 

While Mrs. Granville was discussing with Daw- 
son the feasibility of going to a house which could 
be sfeen in the distance, to make inquiries and 
gain whatever information they could, a man 
was seen nearing their camp. 

Dawson hailed the horseman, as he saw by the 
man’s actions that he intended riding by with- 
out stopping, saying as he did so, ^T’r’aps he be 
the man what we air a-lookin’ fur.” 

The man turned his horse’s head and rode to- 
ward the camp. He was dressed in very close- 


A Friend in Need. 165 

fitting, coarse-looking clothes, with the lower part 
of the trousers snngly tucked into a pair of flash- 
ing boot-tops reaching to the knees; the bottom 
of the boots had not been neglected, for they were 
adorned with a pair of heels of an incredible 
height, two clinking spurs bedecked his ankles, 
a huge belt filled with large cartridges, encircled 
his slender waist, and a slouchy, broad-brimmed 
hat of felt, which had one day been white, partly 
concealed a very sharp, but honest-looking pair 
of gray eyes. 

When he rode up to where Mrs. Granville was 
standing, she addressed him, and the moment 
his eyes fell upon the lovely face and form of 
the woman before him, he dismounted from his 
broncho and stood with uncovered head, as if 
awaiting the commands of a queen. 

Mrs. Granville felt just a little astonishment 
at such unlooked-for homage, but in a way of 
opening a conversation, she said: “Sir, I need 
some information concerning this locality, and 
perhaps you could oblige me.’^ 

“I know every foot of the country for fifty 
miles, ma’am,” replied the stranger. 

“Well, then, do you know a man by the name 
of Cad Wadsworth?” she inquired. 

“Yes, ma’am. Know him as good as I do my- 
self.” 

“How far does he live from here?” 

“It’s a good forty miles from here, ma’am.” 

“Can you tell me anything about a herd of cat- 
tle which was left with Wadsworth about a month 
ago?” continued Mrs. Granville. 

With true woman’s instinct, Mrs. Granville had 


i66 


Triumphs and Failures. 


decided that this man could be trusted, and she 
did not hesitate to reveal to him the object of 
her inquiries. 

When she had finished, the man before her was 
dancing from one foot to the other, ramming first 
one hand and then the other into the deep pockets 
of his tightly-fitting trousers, and jingling his 
monstrous spurs in wildest confusion, while his 
features showed signs of intense excitement. 

^^Well, ma^am, I can tell you this much. The 
cattle are nearly all gone now, and if you are 
not on the spot by sunrise in the morning, the 
remainder of them will have followed the others.” 

^‘Gone I” exclaimed Mrs. Granville. *^Why, 
was that Indian a treacherous wretch, that he al- 
lowed them to be taken? I am quite sure that 
Mr. Granville trusted him fully.” 

^Tf you please, ma’am, the Tndian’ was not to 
blame, so far as I know about it,” replied the 
cowboy, in defense of the Indian. ^‘You see it 
was like this: A man came to Wadsworth with 
a herd of cattle and wished to leave them with 
him for a time. Wadsworth took the cattle and 
the man went away, saying that he would return 
in a month. The owner of the cattle (I do not 
know his name) had two cowboys employed to 
assist in driving the herd, and a few days before 
the month was up, those two men came to him 
with a written order for the cattle, consequently 
he (Wadsworth) turned all the herd over to them, 
with the exception of perhaps an hundred head.” 

” t all this is true?” 



appealing look at 


her informant. 


A Friend in Need. 167 

‘^es, ma’am, it is all as true as gospel, and 
it is just as I said before, that if you are not 
there by sunrise in the morning, you will not find 
that many,” replied the cowboy very earnestly. 

For once in her life Salenna Granville was out- 
witted, but it was of very short duration, how- 
ever. Forty miles distance, between sundown at 
night and sunrise in the morning — a strange land 
covered with darkness — ^tired men and horses after 
a weary day’s journey, did, indeed, seem almost in- 
surmountable objects, and would have been so, to 
a less determined person than Mrs. Granville her- 
self. 

For a few moments she stood motionless un- 
der the spell of this unexpected calamity, but her 
brain was actively engaged all the while. Pres- 
ently she said, ^^Do you know the route to Wads- 
worth’s place by night?” 

^^Yes, ma’am, could go there with my eyes shut 
if I had to,” replied the cowboy, proudly, 

^W/’ell, since you seem to know the way so per- 
fectly, could you be induced to accompany me — 
that is, to be my guide, there to-night, provided, 
that my men are willing to go?” 

It did not take much persuasion on the part 
of Mrs. Granville to gain the consent of this man, 
for “Cowboy Dick,” as he was known to his com- 
rades, had already made up his mind that there 
would be nothing too difficult or dangerous for 
him to undertake for this beautiful woman be- 
fore him. 

“Oh, yes, I shall be glad to go if by so doing 
I can serve so fair a lady,” he replied, gallantly. 

Mrs. Granville called Mr. Dawson into her 


1 68 Triumphs and Failures. 

counsel, and informed him of what she had 
learned from the stranger, and asked him if he 
would be willing to make a night ride to save the 
remainder of the herd. 

^^Sartinly, sartinly, 1^11 go, Mis^ Granville. 
That's jest what I come fur — -to do eny thing that's 
nesessary to he'p you out'n your trouble," heart- 
ily replied good Mr. Dawson. 

^^Well, Mr. Dawson, since I have your consent 
and the consent of the stranger to guide us, I pre- 
sume we can make satisfactory arrangements with 
the other men," said Mrs. Granville. 

^'They will all be as loyal to you as you could 
desire. I'm sartin," replied Mr. Dawson, reassur- 

ingly- 

When the men were informed of the prospec- 
tive night ride they were jubilant, for they had 
had enough of cowboy life to be thoroughly hard- 
ened, and they secretly hoped and really believed, 
that there might be some excitement before it was 
through. 

The plans were soon consummated, a supper 
partaken of hastily, and Mrs. Granville mounted 
upon her faithful saddle horse, accompanied by 
Cowboy Dick, Mr. Dawson and another man of 
her party, rode away in the darkness. 

The remainder of the party were given direc- 
tions concerning the trails by Cowboy Dick, and 
instructed by Mrs. Granville to be ready to travel 
by daybreak the next morning, and to travel until 
they should meet herself and men with the cattle, 
when they should all camp together. 

All night long, over the hills and across prairie, 
valley and stream, the little party rode. 


A Friend in Need. 169 

Daybreak the next morning found a small band 
of weary travelers, mounted upon the backs of 
very tired horses at the gate of the Indian, who 
had been intrusted with the keeping of the herd. 

Mrs. Granville was the first to enter the house, 
she walked up to the huge man before her, and 
addressing him in a pleasant manner, said: ‘^Do 
I have the pleasure of meeting Cad Wadsworth?’^ 

The Indian was somewhat taken back by be- 
ing thus so familiarly addressed by a strange 
white lady and did not reply at once. He had 
not taken in the situation, and he did not know 
what to make of this strange proceeding. 

By this time. Cowboy Dick, who was the last 
to enter the room, came up, and at sight of him, 
the dusky face of the half-breed lighted up, and 
he exclaimed: “^Heap good friend, come! In- 
jun glad,’’ as he shook the hand of his white 
friend. 

'^How, Cad, tell me, have the rascals been here 
any more after the cattle?” 

Wadsworth looked doubtingly at Mrs. Gran- 
ville, and did not reply. Cowboy Dick noticed 
this and proceeded. ^^Now, Cad, this lady is the 
one who owns the cattle, and she has come here 
for them. Are they here?” 

At this information the Indian’s countenance 
changed, and a heavy scowl overspread his face. 

^^Eascals here. Gone now,” he said. 

Then Wadsworth related all that had hap- 
pened since Edward Granville had left, and be- 
fore closing stated that just before the arrival 
of the Granville party, the two villains were there 
with a written order, with Mr. Granville’s sig- 


ijo Triumphs and Failures. 

nature upon it, for the remaining one hundred 
head. 

By this time Dawson and the other men came 
in and breakfast was announced, which was in- 
deed welcome news to the weary, hungry travelers. 
When breakfast was over, Mrs. Granville sent 
the men to get the cattle in readiness for the drive, 
while she remained to settle accounts with the 
faithful Indian, who had done all in his power 
to protect the property of his white friend. 

But when she mentioned it, Wadsworth replied 
in his broken Indian fashion, ^Gnjun no charge 
white lady. Cap, heap good man — dead now. No 
charge his lady,’^ and all her protestations were in 
vain. 

Just before they were ready to depart. Cowboy 
Dick came to Mrs. Granville and said: ^^You 
will excuse me, I hope, Mrs. Granville, for this 
seeming intrusion, but I would like very much 
to remain with your party until I see you safe 
on your way to-morrow morning. 

‘^Of course, I know that you did not request 
me to assist you, only as a guide through last 
night, but if you have no objections I should like 
to go,” he continued, without waiting for a reply. 

^‘Certainly, you may if you like. I did not ask 
you, simply because I thought I had already im- 
posed upon your generosity too much. I shall 
be delighted to have you remain with us,” re- 
plied Mrs. Granville, gratefully. 

They started out with the remnant of the once 
large herd, with the hope of meeting those who 
had been left behind before darkness should over- 
take them. In this they were not disappointed. 


A Friend in Need. 17 1 

for just before the sun went over the western ho- 
rizon, they hailed the sight of their prairie 
schooner moving slowly but surely toward them. 

When the two divisions had met they camped 
for the night. The cattle were all driven into 
a ravine, and held there until they lay down and 
were peacefully chewing their cuds for their 
night’s repose. 

Supper was served in the usual manner, and 
the prairie schooner which was used as a sleep- 
ing apartment by Mrs. Granville, was soon put 
in readiness for her occupancy by deft and will- 
ing hands, for they all knew that she was sorely 
in need of rest. 

Mrs. Granville retired to her rustic chamber, 
but notwithstanding the fact that she had not 
slept, and ridden on horseback for thirty-six 
hours, sleep absolutely refused to come to her. 
She was not sorry, however, but rather glad that 
she could remain awake, for she felt an unac- 
countable dread of lapsing into slumber. 

For hour& she sat there in her schooner cham- 
ber, now and then peering out into the darkness, 
which was broken only by the glimmer of the 
camp fires now burning very low, and listening to 
eveiy sound that broke upon the awful stillness 
of the night. She did not know that only a few 
paces away, sat her strange, mysterious benefac- 
tor, with pistol in hand, his trained ear drinking 
in every sound that broke upon the stillness of 
the midnight hour, else it would have been some 
relief to the terrible suspense which she endured. 

Neither was Dick aware that he had a compan- 
ion in his midnight vigil, else he would have been 


172 Triumphs and Failures. 

quite anxious to have been alone, for if they 
should have an encounter at all, he did not wish 
to have this watcher a party to it. 

As she sat there in her loneliness, thinking — 
thinking of what might have been in the dead 
past, and of what might be in the untried future, 
and especially the near future should the ban- 
dits make a raid upon them, the moments seemed 
hours to her. She thought of Cowboy Dick, and 
his evident goodness of heart in offering his as- 
sistance to such a stranger, and wondered why a 
man so refined in speech and manner as was he, 
should be in this wild country, thus hiding from 
the world the light of the fine talents with which 
God had endowed him. Then the echo of a far- 
away voice came to her, saying: ^^Beware, lest 
the beautiful light of your own brilliant intel- 
lect be extinguished by the powerful current of 
your daring and reckless emulations !” 

"There, here I am allowing myself to indulge 
in such idle fancies as that again. I have always 
said that a woman should have all the rights and 
privileges of a man, and therefore, if it became 
necessary, to place herself in any position which 
he might occupy. It is extremely necessary that 
I be here, and I will not allow myself to think 
of such things, so there, now!” And with this 
decisive declaration, she resolutely thrust the 
echoing voice from her. 

Nothing of interest occurred in the return jour- 
ney and they soon reached the home of John Daw- 
son, where they found a glad welcome from Mrs. 
Dawson, Carrie and Sarah, the faithful servant 
of so many years. 


A Friend In Need. 


173 


Here, Cowboy Bick bade farewell to Mrs. Gran- 
ville, Dawson and the boys, and returned to his 
wild, mysterious life in the Territory. 

It was growing late in the year, and Mrs. Gran- 
ville knew, that ere this time, the hoary frosts 
of autunm were turning the green foliage to gold 
and brown, and the gray dawn of winter would 
soon cast its dark shadows 'over her Northern 
home, so she decided to spend the winter in sunny 
Southern Kansas. 

She wrote her son, Algernon, to come to her 
at once, and while the letter was on its way, she 
looked around for a suitable place for herself and 
family to spend the winter. 

A comfortable cottage was at last found and 
purchased, and Mrs. Granville, with Carrie and 
the servant, Sarah, installed herself there, to await 
the arrival of her son, while Jim was placed in 
charge of the cattle a mile from the village. 


174 


Triumphs ami Failures. 


CHAPTER XVII. 
salenna’s midnight adventure. 

Mrs. Granville could not reasonably expect 
the arrival of her son for a month at least, at 
which time she contemplated returning to her 
home, leaving Algernon with the family there. 

In due time, Algernon and Josephine arrived, 
accompanied by a little stranger in the person of 
a baby girl, who had come to make her home with 
them. 

Salenna was truly glad to see her son again, 
and also Josephine, whom she had learned to love 
as her own child. She could not help sighing a 
little when she looked at the pretty innocent in- 
fant, and thought of its youthful parents, and 
of how surely the responsibility of her son’s fam- 
ily must fall upon herself. She did not allow 
one word to escape her, however, for she would 
not wound the feelings of her pretty daughter un- 
der any circumstances. 

As soon as everything was comfortably settled, 
Mrs. Granville took her departure for her old 
home. She did not take any money with her, 
only that which was absolutely necessary for trav- 
eling expenses, for the country at that time, was 
so infested by robbers and cutthroats, that not 
only the money, but one’s own life was really in 


Salenna’s Midnight Adventure. 175 

danger, and no other woman than Salenna Gran- 
ville would have dared undertake the perilous 
journey alone. 

“Hadn’t you best let Jim go with you, mother?” 
said Algernon, before she started. 

“No, Algernon, I am capable of traveling any- 
where that a man can, and I can tell you that it 
will not be well for the man who molests me. If 
a woman expects Roman’s Rights,’ she must ex- 
pect to be her own defense. No, I take no man 
with me, simply as a protector,” replied his 
mother, firmly. 

Mrs. Granville arrayed in a neat traveling suit 
of gray, took the stage and traveled all day, and 
at night found a lodging place at the stage- 
post, which was the only place available. 

She did not like the looks of things there, and 
she soon sought the stage driver to ascertain 
whether or not there would be a stage leave the 
post that night, and she found, greatly to her 
relief, that one would leave as soon as the pas- 
sengers had supper. 

“Then, my man, reserve a seat for me, for I 
wish much to go,” said Mrs. Granville. 

“I’U tell ye, ma’am, hit’ll be mighty danger- 
ous fur a lady like yerself to go,”' said the driver, 
eyeing the slight form but determined face of 
the lady before him. 

'"Why do you think it so dangerous?” she in- 
quired. 

“Well, we’re just likely to have a holdup eny 
minute after hit gits dark, and that wouldn’t 
be very pleasant fur a timid lady,” answered the 
burly driver with a grin. 


176 Triumphs and Failures. 

Mrs. Granville could not repress a smile at the 
word ^‘timid/^ for had she not encountered more 
dangers and displayed greater courage than a 
great many men who boasted of their bravery ? 

do not believe that I will be in greater dan- 
ger out in the stage coach at night, than to re- 
main here,” she rejoined. 

^‘Don’t know’s you would either, ma’am,” truth- 
fully assented the driver. 

‘^Then you will reserve a seat for me, will 
you?” she inquired again, as if making sure of 
the seat in the stage. 

^^Certainly, ma’am, if you wish it,” he replied. 

Mrs. Granville re-entered the musty little room 
where supper was waiting, sat down at the table, 
and partook of a hasty and somewhat scanty 
meal, for she had lost some time in looking after 
the passage on the stage, which necessitated some 
haste in her repast, that she might be ready when 
the stage drew up at the door. 

When the driver’s cry of ^^all aboard” was 
heard, Salenna Granville was the first to enter 
the stage. When the passengers, who consisted 
of two rather young-looking gentlemen, one about 
middle age, one old gentleman, and Mrs. Gran- 
ville, were all seated, the crack of the driver’s 
whip could be heard, and the noisy, lumbering 
vehicle rattled away. 

They traveled on, in their peculiar stage- 
fashion until about midnight, when they entered 
a narrow strip of timber bordering a stream. It 
was very dark, and the driver could make but 
slow progress at best, and very suddenly his 
horses came to a standstill. 


Salenna’s Midnight Adventure. 177 

“A holdup I” whispered one of the men to the 
other. ‘^But let’s make it warm for them, any- 
way !” 

At these words the lady-passenger sprang to 
the lamp and extinguished the light. 

By this time the robbers on the outside were 
clamoring and swearing at the stage door, try- 
ing to gain admittance^ 

Mrs. Granville pressed her face against the win- 
dow and peered out into the darkness. She could 
see plainly by the light of the stars the form of 
a man with a small gun in his hand, pointing it 
upward, as if aiming at some object considerably 
elevated. 

It quickly occurred to her that this man was 
holding guard upon the driver, while his com- 
panions should enter the stage and rob the pas- 
sengers. She leaned forward and whispered to 
the man nearest her, saying: ^^Sir, you gentle- 
men take Care of the men at the door and I will 
look after their guard. Just unlatch the door, 
and as it flies open, all of you fire simultaneously, 
and repeat it and you will be sure to get some 
of them,” and with these hurried words, she 
turned to her own task. 

The men had scarcely stirred since they be- 
came aware of their danger, but the daring of 
this woman nerved them to action, and they 
obeyed her to a letter without knowing why they 
did it. 

One of them reached forward and unlatched the 
door with one hand, while with the other he held 
his gun ready for action, and as the door fiew 
open, surprising the bandits, the firing from the 


lyS Triumphs and Failures. 

inside became heavy, and the bullets came thick 
and fast from the guns in the hands of the men 
on the outside. 

This did not last long, however, for all at once 
the stage gave a great lurch, and the passengers 
found themselves dashing through the wood at 
an incredible rate of speed for a stage-coach. 

True to her word, when she had given the com- 
mand to the men, Mrs. Granville turned to the 
window, and noiselessly raised it just enough to 
receive the muzzle of her gun, when she took de- 
liberate aim and fired. The bullet went straight 
home and the bandit guard threw up his hands 
and fell backwards upon the ground, dead. 

As soon as the driver found himself from un- 
der the cover of a gun, he put the lash to his 
horses and dashed away, never slacking his speed, 
until he was miles from the scene of the encoun- 
ter. 

As soon as the men could recover from the 
sudden surprise of having been almost spirited 
away from their enemies, they began an investi- 
gation, to ascertain if anyone was hurt. To 
their intense relief, they found that no one had 
so much as received a scratch, and no harm done 
farther than a few bullet holes in the body of 
the stage. 

^^My dear lady, your bravery and presence of 
mind are certainly commendable. Had it not 
been for your quick forethought to extinguish the 
light, there is no saying what might have hap- 
pened to us. I feel that we all owe our pres- 
ent safety to you,” said the old gentleman, ad- 
dressing Mrs. Granville. 


Salcnna’s Midnight Adventure. 179 

''We certainly do owe our safety to her and 
can profit by her example, if we could only be as 
brave/^ put in another. 

"How can we ever repay you? For one so cour- 
ageous as yourself will always leave a man in 
the shade,” said another. 

"The best way to repay me,” said Mrs. Gran- 
ville, who had not spoken before, "will be not 
to mention the matter of my 'courage’ or 'hrav- 
ery, again. Of course, you may talk as much 
about the affray as you like, but please do not 
attach too much importance to my part in it!” 

"I am very sure we could not well do that, 
but since it is your desire, we will not mention 
your part too frequently,” respectfully added the 
old gentleman. 

With this they talked on of the combat just 
ended, and of different perils which each of them 
and their friends had encountered in this wild 
Western country, but carefully avoiding the role 
which the lady-passenger had so bravely per- 
formed, until the stage drew rein at the station, 
some two hours ahead of time. The distance 
which it should have taken six hours to cover, had 
been made by the driver in four. 

This stage station was a very respectable-look- 
ing place, and when Mrs. Granville learned that 
there would be no outgoing coach until nine 
o’clock that morning, she sought a room and re- 
tired to rest. 

Promptly at the appointed hour, the stage was 
at the door to receive its passengers, and Mrs. 
Granville, with several others entered it and rode 
away. 


i8o Triumphs and Failures. 

After a few days of travel in like manner, she 
reached the river, where she took passage pn a 
steamboat, and was soon landed on the shores 
near her old home. Here she hired a conveyance 
which soon placed her at her own door. 


A Startling Discovery. 


i8i 


CHAPTEE XVIII. 

A STARTLING DISCOVERY. 

"^Became of thy transgression, the door of my 
heart shall he closed against thee'* 

The old housekeeper was rejoiced when she 
saw that it was really and truly her dear mistress 
come home, and she made great haste to make 
her comfortable. 

suppose, ma’am, you would like to letire 
to your own room afther havin’ a good cup of 
tea? It’s jist like what you left it, shure it is, 
ma’am. I niver did allow enyone to use it, in- 
dade I niver, and it’s jist ready fur your own 
sweet self,” garrulously continued the kind Irish 
soul. 

^^Oh, I thank you, Bridget. I am glad you 
kept it ready for me. You were always thought- 
ful of my comfort. Indeed, I shall be glad to 
retire for a rest, and then we can talk over old 
times,” kindly replied Mrs. Granville. 

^T’ll not bother her wid the letters until she 
comes down all rested, poor, swate dear. And 
if it ain’t a good thing that man o’ hers is dead, 
then I’m not Bridget Flanders,” soliloquized 


1 82 Triumphs and Failures. 

faithful Bridget, as she heard her mistress ascend- 
ing to her own room. 

After a few hours of refreshing sleep, Mrs. 
Granville descended to the parlor looking so fresh 
and beautiful, that the housekeeper was heard to 
declare, ^^As shure as I be Bridget Flanders, she 
gits younger and purtier every day I” 

^^And shure, ma’am, here air some letters fur 
you. They’ve been along wid me since Mr. Al- 
gernon went oif,” said Bridget, as she placed 
a packet of letters in the hands of her mistress. 

Mrs. Granville took the packet and examined 
the postmark of each before breaking the seal of 
any of them. 

She then broke the seal of one which was posted 
at Denver. It stated that the beautiful prop- 
erty there owned by Edward Granville had been 
totally burned by fire. 

^^Owned by Edward Granville !” she re- 
peated with burning sarcasm in her voice, which 
was aroused by the bitter memory of her past 
wrongs, for it was evident that no one in Den- 
ver knew that the money invested in that prop- 
erty had been iniquitously wrested from its right- 
ful owner. 

‘^^ell ! well ! Trouble never comes singly,” she 
said with a little sigh. ^^Let me see what the 
others contain,” and with these words she tore open 
another. 

It read as follows: 

‘^^My DEj^b Madam : — I wish to inform vou 
that the interest on your note given to our firm 
is due, and since it is against our rules to allow 


A Startling Discovery. 183 

interest to accrue, you will oblige us by a set- 
tlement in the near future. 

‘^Eespectfully, Perkins & Company.” 

Mrs. Granville sat for some moments too ut- 
terly surprised to speak, or even to think clearly. 
Finally she roused herself and reread the let- 
ter and examined its date, finding that it had 
been written some ten days since. 

^^hat can it mean?” she said to herself. "I 
am quite sure that I never gave a note in my life.” 
Then the remembrance of her husband^s crafti- 
ness came to her and she shuddered as she thought 
of it. 

Early the next morning the carriage was at 
the door to take Mrs. Granville into town, and 
she arose from the untasted breakfast, put on her 
wraps and went out. 

"You may remain here, Samuel,” said Mrs. 
Granville to the coachman, who was perched in 
the carriage, and trying vainly to measure his 
own importance by the position he occupied. "I 
prefer to go alone this morning.” 

"Certainly, ma’am,” replied the man as he de- 
scended from his lofty perch with a downcast air, 
and respectfully lifted his hat, ^fi)ut, really, I 
do not think the team safe for a lady to drive.” 

She could not repress a smile at this unfounded 
remark as she replied, "Have no fear for my 
safety, Samuel, for I have driven them many, 
many miles alone,” and she entered the carriage 
and drove away, leaving the crestfallen Samuel 
standing on the walk. 

She drove to the office of the mortgage com- 


184 Triumphs and Failures. 

party and entered. A gentleman soon came to 
wait upon her, and when she introduced herself as 
Mrs. Granville, every courtesy was shown her. She 
soon explained her business and asked to see the 
note in question. 

The man soon produced the note to which 
was attached another very large, legal-looking 
document, which caused the eyes of Mrs. Gran- 
ville to open very wide as she looked at them in 
the hands of the man advancing toward her. 

She took the papers and looked — first at the 
note and then later at the large document, read- 
ing every line, and noting every word carefully 
as she perused it. 

When she had finished, there was not a ves- 
tige of color in her face and she could not find 
voice to speak for several moments, so great was 
her emotion. 

The man saw her agitation and pitied her, al- 
though he could not comprehend why she should 
be so disturbed. 

When she could again trust herself to speak she 
said: ^^Do you mean to tell me, sir, that this 
document is a mortgage upon my home?’’ 

^^Keally, madam, if I am — rightly — informed 
— it is,” replied the poor clerk, who wilted under 
her searching gaze, although he was perfectly hon- 
est and wholly innocent as to any fraud what- 
ever. 

^^Then there is a base fraud somewhere which 
must be investigated !” she replied hotly. 

^Tleally, my dear madam, I do not understand 
you. Your words mystify me,” replied the poor 


A Startling Discovery. 185: 

little man, before the now thoroughly exasperated 
woman. 

At these words Mrs. Granville suddenly recol- 
lected herself, and quickly decided that it was 
not best to be rash in this matter, and to let 
cooler judgment prevail. 

^AVell, perhaps my words do mystify you, but 
I was just a little surprised in this. If you please, 
sir, I will return a few days later to adjust this 
matter if it will harmonize with your conveni- 
ence,’^ she replied with quiet equanimity. 

“That will be perfectly satisfactory to us if 
it is your wish, Mrs. Granville,” replied the man 
with great diffidence. 

“There is one favor if you please, sir,” she 
said as she arose to go. 

“At your service, madam,” said the man, bow- 
ing very low. 

“May I have the name of the notary who wit- 
nessed those papers?” 

“With the greatest of pleasure, Mrs. Granville,” 
said the man with evident relief. 

The clerk gave her the name desired and Mrs. 
Granville left the office. She walked straight to 
her carriage, entered it and drove homeward — 
or at least it had teen home, but she felt in her 
own heart that it would never be home to her 
again. She conceded that this cruel wave of 
misfortune stood ready and waiting to close her; 
own doors against her, but it was not without a 
struggle that she could relinquish herself to the 
inevitable fate which awaited her. 

She was so absorbed in her own thoughts, that 
the horses, obedient to their custom, had stood 


1 86 Triumphs and Failures. 

several moments at the door before she realized 
that she had reached home. When she did arouse, 
she sprang out of the carriage and looking about 
her she saw Samuel only a few feet away with 
hat in hand, obediently awaiting her orders. 

Mrs. Granville actually felt faint as she entered 
the house, so great had been the shock, but she 
was not the woman to shrink from any task, or 
to shun any burden that might be cast upon her, 
be it just or unjust. 

She went straightway to the dining-room, 
where lunch was served and after partaking as 
much as was possible, she repaired to her own 
room to think — to think out what was best to be 
done under such trying circumstances. 

When once alone and the door locked to insure 
no intrusion (although there was no one to in- 
trude but Bridget, and that she would not have 
done under any pretense whatever), Mrs. Gran- 
ville took from her pocket for the first time, the 
slip of paper which the clerk at the real estate 
office had given her. 

When her eyes fell upon the name so legibly 
written, she well remembered hearing her late 
husband mention that name among the list of 
his friends. “George Randall ! Why, yes, he 
was one of Edward’s chums before I married 
him. I well remember now,” said Mrs. Gran- 
ville, repeating the name. 

For an hour she sat wrapped in thought. She 
tried to recall every incident that had transpired 
in which Edward Granville could have been con- 
nected with this matter, even in the smallest de- 
tail. She had observed that the note and mort- 


A Startling Discovery. 187 

gage had been given only a few days before his 
departure to the South, which only confirmed her 
opinion as to his guilt. 

^“^But Edward could not have done this alone, 
and this George Randall is just as guilty as he, 
or at least he was a party to the crime I” she 
said to herself. 

It suddenly occurred to her that at that mo- 
ment there was an unusual amount of mail came 
to her husband. "Who knows but that I might 
find something which would lead me into the 
light of it all,^^ she said. And with this thought 
she ran downstairs to begin a search. 

She first went to the library, where she ran- 
sacked every desk and drawer, but she found 
nothing; from there to the parlor she went, but 
with the same results. Then into every cup- 
board, closet, and upon every mantelshelf in the 
house she searched, with the firm determination 
that if even one line could be found, it should 
be used against this George Randall, whom she 
so surely believed had assisted in foully robbing 
her. 

Mrs. Granville sought and explored until she 
was almost exhausted, but at last her efforts were 
rewarded. 

She hastily took the letters from the envelope 
and began devouring their contents. There were 
three of them, each one bearing a different date, 
yet there had only a few days elapsed between the 
writing of either of them. 

The contents proved to be just what she had 
hoped to find. They had been written by no 
other person than George Randall, and her sus- 


1 88 Triumphs and Failures. 

picions were confirmed by the use of such expres- 
sions as ^^our scheme/’ you can make your 
part go/’ “it’s a lucky deal for us both,” etc., all 
the while addressing the person to whom he was 
writing as “Ed.” 

She read them over and over until she could 
have repeated every word of them from memory. 
She pondered over it. What would be the re- 
sult if she should prove fraud upon the part of 
Edward Granville and George Kandall? Would 
her home be saved? Would this black-hearted 
Eandall be punished for his part in the crime ? 
All these thoughts passed through her mind, as 
she sat there in her solitary chamber, and all 
alone in this great world, so far as assistance and 
comfort were concerned. 

But there was one thing which the proud spirit 
of SalenUa Granville rebelled against, and that 
was the disgrace of having the name of her late 
husband connected with, or, in fact, placed at the 
head of such a scandal. The more she thought 
of it the blacker it looked, and the more loth 
she became to make a family scandal public. 

Not that Salenna Granville had one ray of love 
left for the man who had so basely betrayed her 
confidence, for that had suddenly died when she 
made this discovery, but nevertheless, she had 
married him — ^had once loved him, and the great- 
est of all, he was the father of her child. “No,” 
she said, “I have spared him the punishment of 
one other crime as black as this, and now that 
he is dead, I cannot drag the name of my child’s 
father in the dust, be he ever so guilty !” 

“I believe that I can make some kind of a rea- 


"A Startling Discovery. 189 

sonable settlement with the firm by producing 
this evidence of fraud/^ she said to herself as 
she refolded the letters and placed them in the 
envelope from whence they came. 

The next morning Mrs. Granville was up be- 
times, for she realized that she had a grave task 
before her. She wished if possible, to keep 
this scandalous aifair from going to the ears of 
the public, yet she felt that she must save all 
that was possible from the disaster. 

She ordered the carriage, bade Samuel accom- 
pany her, and with her own little head full of 
plans unknown to others, she drove into town. 

She went straightway to the office of George 
Randall. When she entered Randall was at his 
desk. On hearing someone enter, he turned and 
saw before him the slight figure of a very remark- 
able-looking lady, which was a very rare occur- 
rence at his office. 

He arose, bowed and smiled, as he advanced 
toward her. Mrs. Granville was the first to speak. 

^^You are Mr. George Randall, I presume?^’ 

^^Yes, madam, he replied, very politely, ^ffiut 
whom have I the honor of addressing feigning 
forgetfulness. 

“Mrs. Salenna Granville,” replied that lady, 
very stiffly. 

At these words, George Randall changed color 
about a dozen times in about half as man}'^ sec- 
onds, the bland smile was replaced by a hard 
stare, and the low, soft voice had become husky 
and broken when he once more attempted to ad- 
dress his visitor. When at last he did find voice 
to speak, he said, “Pray, be seated.” 


190 Triumphs and Failures. 

^^What can I do for you, my dear lady?” he 
continued, as he seated himself and vainly tr3ring 
to hold his knees still, which insisted upon shak- 
ing as if he had been suddenly seized with a chill. 

^^r'^have some letters here which I wish to read 
to you and ascertain if you know anything about 
them,” she replied, as she produced the envelope. 

^Terhaps it would be just as well for me to 
read them,” said Eandall, now realizing that there 
was trouble brewing, and he decided to play a 
desperate card on the outset if it were possible. 

beg to differ with you there, sir. I prefer 
to keep them in my own possession,” coldly re- 
plied Mrs. Granville, who at once designed his 
intentions. 

George Eandall sat motionless with his eyes 
staring wildly before him, while Mrs. Granville, 
in her clear, distinct voice, perused the first let- 
ter. As she proceeded to the second one, she no- 
ticed Eandall reach for his hat. She anticipated 
him at once, and quickly stepping between him 
and the door, and raising a small, defiant, white 
hand, she said: ^Gf you attempt to leave this 
room until I have finished with you, you do so 
at your own risk ! Sit down there !” she com- 
manded, and he obeyed like the miserable cur that 
he was. 

As the despicable wretch before her resumed 
his seat, his feminine guard slipped a small sil- 
ver-mounted pistol from somewhere, and laid it 
upon the tab]^ before her, while she remained 
standing to finish her task. 

Eandall did not attempt to stir again, and when 


A Startling Discovery. 19 1 

she had finished the reading of the last letter, she 
turned her indignant eyes upon the cowering 
culprit and said: ^^Now, George Randall, do you 
know anything of these letters 
Randall did not reply. 

"I have come here, George Randall, to learn 
what you can do in the way of reparation, for 
a most abominable fraud, to which you have been 
a very willing accessory ! I charge you with will- 
ingly, maliciously and premeditatively aiding one 
Edward Granville, to secure a mortgage upon my 
home, and to receive the money upon the same 
she continued, with a voice as full of accusation 
as the vehement words which she poured forth. 

“Where did you obtain so much information, 
that you dare make such dark charges against 
me Randall at last found voice to inquire. 

“I have these letters written by your own hand ; 
the mortgage which is now in the possession of 
the Northwestern Loan Agency, bears your sig- 
nature and seal, and I further have my own oath 
to testify, that I was never a party to such a 
transaction!’^ firmly replied Mrs. Granville. 

^^here is Edward Granville, that he does not 
come forth to vindicate my character from the 
false accusations made against it?” demanded 
Randall, with an attempt at self-defense. 

“Edward Granville has gone to receive his last 
verdict before the judgment bar of God, and 
can never come forth either to vindicate your in- 
nocence, or confirm your guilt, therefore, the ad- 
judication of your crime now lies between your- 
self and the courts of our country!” replied Sa- 
lenna Granville, with a ring of triumph in her 


192 Triumphs and Failures. 

voice that grated, harshly upon the ears of her 
unwilling listener. 

^^You do not mean to say that Edward. Gran- 
ville is dead gasped Eandall, who was now 
coming to a full realization of the dangers that 
surrounded him. 

^‘^That is the meaning I wished to convey, and 
it would have been better for you had you fol- 
lowed in his wake, should I fail to make a satis- 
factory settlement with the Loan Company,” re- 
plied Mrs. Granville. 

^^Well, what would you have me do, Mrs. Gran- 
ville?” said Randall in a subdued voice, for the 
unexpected news of Granville^s death had en- 
tirely unnerved him. 

^‘Well, I do not know what I can have you do 
until I shall have consulted the agents of the 
company; but I will tell you what I will have 
you do if I can,” said Mrs. Granville. 

do not wish to have this scandalous affair 
made public if I can avoid it, but if you do not 
consent to my terms, and I cannot settle amicably 
with the company, you will be turned over to 
the officers and the law will yet have to take its 
course with you,” she continued. 

am completely at your mercy, Mrs. Gran- 
ville, and I will do whatever I can in the way of 
reparation,” whined Randall. 

Mrs. Granville did not reply, but stepped to 
the door and in an instant a burly young man was 
at her side. 

‘^Here, Samuel, you can take charge of this 
man, and see that he does not leave this room 
under any pretense whatever until I return I” she 


[A. Startling Discovery. 193 

said, as she placed the weapon in the hands of 
her faithful servant. 

^'He’ll shore be here, either dead or alive, when 
yon git back, Mis^ Granville!” cried big Samuel, 
very much delighted to have such a pleasant duty 
to perform. 

^*1 will return in just one hour, Samuel,” said 
his mistress, as she left the office. 


194 


Triumphs and Failures. 


CHAPTEK XIX. 

"the tree of evil bears bitter fruit.’’ 

Mrs. Granville proceeded at once to the Loan 
Agency, where she was met by the same little 
man who had become so frightened the previous 
day, and who now seemed ready to run at this mo- 
ment in case of another outbreak, but the poor 
fellow was .soon relieved, however, by that lady re- 
questing to see the general manager. 

"Yes, madam, this way,” said the little man, 
as he conducted her into another apartment. 

When once in the presence of the manager, Mrs. 
Granville laid the whole matter before him, leav- 
ing out nothing and exaggerating nothing. 

"Really, I am surprised that such a fraud could 
have been perpetrated through this agency with- 
out having been discovered !” exclaimed the man- 
ager, when she had finished. 

"Well, it is not so surprising when you con- 
sider the fact that it was accomplished through 
the medium of your notary!” replied Mrs. Gran- 
ville. 

"I do not see that the Company can do any- 
thing, Mrs. Granville,” said the manager, after 
several moments of thoughtful silence. "We 
have been out our money and we can do nothing, 
but hold the property responsible for it!” 


“Tree of Evil Bears Bitter Fruit.” 


195 


cannot hold the property when I shall 
have proved beyond a doubt that my signature 
was forged upon those papers and that, with the 
knowledge of your notary replied Mrs. Gran- 
ville in a very positive manner. 

John Aylesworth knew that this was all true, 
but he did not wish to let her know that such was 
his opinion, so he resumed very quietly: 

^TTou doubtless cannot prove that, for you 
would have nothing but your own oath to substan- 
tiate it (which, of course, would be sufficient), 
if your signature will bear investigation ! The 
fact of its being there will be very much against 
you, however.” 

^Tt is of no use to lose time in this manner,” 
said Mrs. Granville. will state to you just 
the terms upon which I will settle this difficulty ! 
I will turn the farm over to you with clear title, 
for five thousand dollars, and no less! I have 
all the evidence necessary and will spare no pains 
to prosecute this case to the full extent of the 
law if my demands are denied ! In the event 
of a settlement, I shall be the loser by fifteen 
thousand, for the farm is well worth twenty!” 

^^You are extortionate in your demands, Mrs. 
Granville!” exclaimed Mr. Aylesworth. “I will 
have to think it over. I do not think it wise to 
go to law about this matter, but you will have to 
be more reasonable, I am sure, else we cannot 
effect a settlement!” 

^^ery well, Mr, Aylesworth. I must be go- 
ing, for I have no time to lose,” replied Mrs. 
Granville, rising to leave. 

"Oh, pray, be seated and let us consult this. 


196 Triumphs and Failures. 

at least!” he exclaimed, as if he had just awak- 
ened to the full extent of the case. 

^^If you are ready to talk business, I will re- 
main, if not, I will retire,” she quietly replied, 
still standing. 

^Te seated, be seated and we will consult this, 
at any rate!” said the manager. 

Mrs. Granville resumed her seat, and sat quietly 
watching the nervous maneuvres of Mr. Ayles- 
worth, as he was making ready to ^^consult” with 
her. 

^‘^Now, Mrs. Granville, what about this? What 
evidence have you to prove this fraud? And 
further, why are you so hard on the company, 
when it is in nowise to blame ?” he inquired, very 
carefully. 

'^Mr. Aylesworth, I do not wish to me unjust 
to anyone, but I have been basely robbed of what 
is against my home! The debt I am unable to 
pay, and I only ask to be partially reimbursed for 
the loss of it! If you refuse to do so, then I 
shall refuse to pay the debt, will expose the fraud, 
and have my home released ! No, I do not wish 
to be unjust, and I am very sure that I have made 
no unreasonable demands !” replied Mrs. Gran- 
ville. 

^^ell, now, Mrs. Granville, that is not to the 
point,” complained Mr. Aylesworth. 

“I have endeavored to speak plainly, sir!” she 
replied. 

^^ell, but about the proof — the proof, you 
know,” continued Aylesworth. 

have the proof, I repeat, and I realize that 
you are only trying to evade an answer, so I will 


“Tree of Evil Bears Bitter Fruit.” 197 

give you just one more opportunity before retir- 
ing ! . Are you willing to give the five thousand 
and take a clear title or not? I must have a 
decision at once?” said Mrs. Granville, very deci- 
dedly, as she arose for the second time. 

“Yes, but you see you do not ” 

“Good-moming, sir!” she said, very politely, 
moving toward the door, as Aylesworth tried to 
give further explanation. 

“Yes, yes, we will give it! We do not want 
any lawsuits started just now !” exclaimed Ayles- 
worth hurriedly, as he saw the lady retiring from 
the room. “But I would like to obtain some of 
the evidence which you possess and perhaps it 
would help us to regain what we will lose by the 
transaction !”■ 

^^Vell, as you have so gracefully consented to 
my terms,” said Mrs. Granville ironically; “I 
will favor you with all the evidence necessary, 
provided, however, that this affair is not made 
public. 

“I am quite sure that you can obtain enough 
from the guilty party to reimburse your firm 
if you will compromise it with him,” she contin- 
ued. 

^^ou seem to be pretty well informed upon 
this subject,” musingly replied A3desworth. 

“Do you agree to this?” demanded Mrs. Gran- 
yille, impatiently. 

“Wliy, yes, I will agree to it if there is any 
chance of recovering what is lost?” acquiesced 
the now very much-distressed Mr. Aylesworth. 

“Well, then, I will bring my ^evidence^ to you, 
and while I am absent you will please make ar- 


198 Triumphs and Failures. 

rangements for the payment of the money to me !” 
she said as she retired. 

^^Well, well/^ said Ay les worth as the door closed 
behind the retreating form of his caller^, ‘‘I’ll be 
darned if she isn’t plucky! And what is more, 
she knows just what she is about. She knew she 
had us going her way, but the mystery to me is, 
that she would settle at all, when she knew so 
well that she could win the case ! 

“At any rate, it is better to pay the amount she 
demanded and take the farm than to lose what 
we have already paid out to that rascal, for the 
farm is well worth the money now, and is increas- 
ing in value every day,” further soliloquized Ayles- 
worth. 

Mrs. Granville returned immediately to where 
she had left Samuel in charge of her prisoner, 
George Eandall. 

Eandall did not look up when his visitor en- 
tered, but sat with downcast eyes and wonder- 
ing what would be the next daring bolt of his 
fair warden. 

Mrs. Granville looked at him some moments 
before she spoke, and then quietly asked, “Are 
you ready to accompany me to the office of the 
Loan Agency, sir?” 

“I am at your service, madam, and will do 
your bidding,” meekly replied the prisoner. 

“Very well, then, you may come along with 
Samuel, and I will follow to see that everything 
is done fair,” said Mrs. Granville, motioning Ean- 
dall to rise. 

Samuel, who was all smiles at the thought of 
being assigned so important a duty, stalked 


“Tree of Evil Bears Bitter Fruit.” 199 

proudly along beside bis charge until they reached 
their destination. 

When they arrived Mrs. Granville said, “Sam- 
uel, you may remain outside while we complete 
our business and be in readiness in case I should 
need you to take charge of this man again.’"’ 

Samuel bowed his acquiescence as the strange- 
looking couple entered the door, or at least Sam- 
uel pronounced them very strange-looking, when 
he had compared them to each other. 

Mr. Aylesworth arose and stood waiting for 
some procedure on the part of the late arrivals, 
and George Eandall stood with his hat in his 
hand and his eyes cast upon the floor, looking 
about as guilty a man as could well be imagined, 
while Mrs. Granville was speaking. 

“Mr. Aylesworth, here is the proof of the 
abominable deception which has been practised 
upon your Loan Company, and also upon my- 
self ! I have brought him here in person, to con- 
fess everything to you, that you may thoroughly 
understand it, and to prove to you that 1 have 
made no unjust demands upon your company!” 
said Mrs. Granville, gravely pointing to the con- 
temptible trickster l3efore them. 

“Can it be possible, George Eandall, that you 
have so basely betrayed the trust so confidingly 
given to you?” thundered Aylesworth, who now 
for the first time, seemed to realize the enormity 
of the crime. 

“What the ladv has charged me with is in- 
deed true, and I am at the mercy of her will ! How- 
ever, she has promised me clemency, provided I 


200 Triumphs and Failures, 

can satisfy yon, which I will do if it is possible/' 
confessed Randall, in a choked voice. 

“Pray, be seated, Mrs. Granville,” said Mr. 
Aylesworth, who in his excitement, had forgotten 
that the lady was still standing. 

When they were seated, Aylesworth continued: 

“Now, Randall, what can you do for yourself? 
You know that, by all means, you shauld be 
turned over to the authorities, but since Mrs. 
Granville, who has been done the greater wrong, 
wishes to show you clemency, I will do the best 
I can for you ; although for the life of me, I can- 
not see why she does not send you where you be- 
long !” 

“Mr. Aylesworth,” said Mrs. Granville, inter- 
rupting him, “you forget that my late husband 
was a participant in this affair! To save my 
family name, I have endeavored to settle it with- 
out the knowledge of the public, even though I 
lose half the value of my home by so doing ! That 
is why I would be lenient with riim, or have set- 
tled with you so easily.” 

“Yes, yes, I see the point now, and I do not 
blame you I Your course is a wise one, I assure 
you, Mrs. Granville,” replied Aylesworth. 

“Now, Randall, what have you to say?” he said, 
turning to Randall again. 

“I haven’t anything to say, only to repeat that 
I will satisfy you if I can,” replied Randall. 

“Well, it is possible, I am quite sure,” he said. 

“Mr. Aylesworth,” said Mrs. Granville rising, 
“if you will promise me to effect a settlement 
with this man, and keep the matter quiet, I will 


‘‘Tree of Evil Bears Bitter Fruit.” 201 


retire, since I have done all there is for me to 
do.” 

"I will give yon my word, that for the sake 
of your family, there shall be nothing more said 
about this affair, after my acquittal of Kandall 
to-day,” said Aylesworth rising, and placing a 
check of deposit in her hand to the amount of 
five thousand dollars. 

Mrs. Granville left the room and bidding Sam- 
uel bring the carriage, she was hastily driven 
homeward, or the place which had been home for 
so many years. 

With an aching heart she climbed the steps 
and entered the house — the dear, old house, which 
she had learned to love as she could never again 
love another for no other place in this wide 
world could ever hold such endearments for her, 
as had this dear, old home, which had every nook 
and comer been planned and directed by her own 
hand. And it seemed that her very heart- 
strings would burst, as she entered it now and 
could not call it home. 

She went upstairs to the room which she had 
always called her own. But, alas, it was all 
changed now and someone else with less careful 
hands and loving heart, must adorn its bright 
walls and bedeck its large windows! 

Any other wom-kn than Salenna Granville 
would have wept bitter tears, but this last fatal 
experience had placed the capstone upon her de- 
termination to crush out every vestige of weak- 
ness in her nature, so far as love for the opposite 
sex was concerned. 

**Man has effected all my real happiness in life. 


202 Triumphs and Failures. 

and yet man has been the root of all my misery, 
and I shall ignore his rights in the future as he has 
trampled upon mine in the past V’ she resolutely 
cried, as she gazed long and lovingly upon the 
old, familiar scenes, with which she must so 
soon part forever. 

After Mrs. Granville had left the office of John 
Aylesworth, that man effected some kind of set- 
tlement with George Eandall, but no one ever 
knew just what the terms were. 

As for Mrs. Granville, she did not care to know, 
since it could not materially affect her, and, of 
course, there was no one else concerned. At any 
rate, whatever the terms of arbitration were, 
George Eandall left the country soon after, and 
was never heard of by anyone there again. 

The day following the close of this unique 
transaction, Mrs. Granville began disposing of the 
few remaining stocks and chattels which had sur- 
vived the preceding disasters, to make ready to 
return to her family. 

^‘^The time for people to make daring strikes 
for wealth here are over, and I think I can par- 
tially retrieve my lost fortune by going to a new 
place, and I believe that Southern Kansas has in 
store a rich harvest for enterprise and a little 
means,” she said to herself, as she pondered over 
the subject after she had retired for the night. 

For a few days she was so occupied by her work, 
that she had no time for reflection. Poor Bridget 
went about her duties bemoaning her own fate 
all the while, as well as that of her beloved mis- 
tress, for she had lived in that household ever 
since Salenna Forresman came there, a pretty 


“Tree of Evil Bears Bitter Fruit.” 203 


young widow, years ago. No wonder her kind 
heart ached when she thought of her as being 
ruthlessly tom from her home and cast upon the 
world to seek fortune anew. 

One morning, a few days later, Mrs. Granville 
announced that she was ready to he taken to the 
landing, where she expected to take passage on 
a steamboat. 

Samuel and Bridget accompanied their mistress 
to the landing, where they remained until the 
great cumbersome boat moved slowly down the 
river. 

Mrs. Granville stood on deck and waved a last 
farewell to her faithful servants on the shore and 
they returned an affectionate salute as the boat 
disappeared from their view, and she became lost 
to them — lost standing on the deck of a river 
steamer, in the clear, cold October morning, wav- 
ing a last farewell to those whom she knew loved 
her — lost floating down the turbulent river of 
Time, with only now and then a lifeboat near to 
rescue her from the debris of misfortune into 
which she has fallen — ^los^ in the dark passages 
of lifers pathway, with only perchance, a gleam 
of light to influence her misguided footsteps, for- 
ever. 

She sailed on down the river, and when reach- 
ing Lexington, changed passage over the stage 
route for C where she had left her family. 


204 


Triumphs and Failures. 


CHAPTEE XX. 

SUNSHINE AND CLOUDS. 

Algernon was very much depressed in spirit, 
as he listened to the accounts given by his mother 
of all that had occurred since she had left them 
a month since. 

Algernon, we have just five thousand dollars 
beside the little herd of cattle out of town,” she 
said. ^^Xow, we must set to thinking what we 
shall do with it. We must invest it in something 
that will yield us a good income, for you must 
consider that we have a large family now to sup- 
port and our expenses will be quite heavy, for 
we have not yet learned economy to correspond 
with a small one.” 

^‘Now, mother, you know that I never origi- 
nated an idea in business matters in my whole 
life, and it must every bit depend upon you. Of 
course, when it comes to execution, I will do any- 
thing you bid me, for I know that I must aid you, 
but it cannot be in thinking, it must be in some 
other way,” replied Algernon. 

Mrs. Granville realized all this before her son’s 
confession, but she had a feeble hope of draw- 
ing him into such work, and she did not even then 
despair, but said to herself, ^‘1 will throw him 
upon his own resources in every way possible, and 
perhaps I can change him yet.” 


Sunshine and Clouds. 


205 


The next morning she said to him, ^'Algernon, 
I wish to have you accompany me to the country. 
I have learned that there is a great deal of land 
lying just east of here, which can be purchased 
at very reasonable prices, and I want you with 
me when I go to look at 

^^Certainly, mother, I will go with you. Shall 
I go to the livery bam and get a conveyance?” 
he said, really venturing a proposal for once in 
his life. 

^TTes, Algernon, you may go,” she said. "And 
be sure you get a team that travels well, for we 
may need to drive a great distance before we re- 
turn,” she added, as he left the house. 

In a very short time, Algernon appeared at 
the front gate with a very spirited, but not very 
beautiful team of bronchos, hitched to a not very 
stylish, but rather comfortable-looking buggy, 
which was just large enough for two. 

When they had reached the country roads, she 
said to her son: "Now, Algernon, I wish to un- 
fold part of my plans to you, at least.” 

^^ery well, mother, I am a willing listener, 
and I believe that you will nnd me a ready helper, 
too, for it is just lately, that I can realize what 
a burden I am to you, and I am resolved to at 
least earn my own way,” replied Algernon with 
more spirit than he had ever shown in all his 
hitherto uneventful life. 

"I thank you, my dear boy, but you know that 
I have never considered you a burden,” replied 
his mother. 

^^ell, you know that I have heen a burden to 
you, and now that I have a family to support, the 


2o6 Triumphs and Failures. 

burden is greater- for you and I am ashamed to 
allow my mother to support myself and family/' 
vehemently declared Algernon. 

Mrs. Granville felt too thankful for this sud- 
den change in her son for words to express, and 
she did not attempt to further declare herself, 
but resumed the subject which Algernon had so 
abruptly broken otf. 

^^Algernon, as I said before, I wish to explain 
my plans to you, and now that I have the as- 
surance of your hearty co-operation, I am sure 
we will succeed. I wish to purchase about a sec- 
tion of this land, which I am now going to in- 
spect, and stock it well. Josie may have charge 
of the little home in town, and in that way Har- 
old and Carrie can be kept in school, and she 
will not be so lonely as she would be in the coun- 
try. She being there to care for the home and 
children, will give me perfect freedom to go at 
any time and return the same way," explained 
Mrs. Granville. 

^AVe can afford all the domestic service that 
will be required, and perhaps a team and buggy," 
she added, laughingly. 

“That is a good idea, mother, but will you im- 
prove the land which you intend to purchase?" 
inquired Algernon. 

“Only just a ranch house and sufficient out- 
buildings to care for the stock," she replied. 

“Oh, I see now !" he exclaimed. “You intend 
Josie to keep the home in town for us, while we 
look after the ranch, or in other words, %et the 
money to make the pot boil' !" 

“Yes, that is about what I mean. I have not 


Sunshine and Clouds. 


207 


spoken to Josie about it, but I am quite sure that 
she will not object/'’ continued Mrs. Granville. 

Josie will be well pleased with that arrange- 
ment, I can assure you, for it was only last even- 
ing, that she was sighing for something to do in 
which she could really take an interest,’’ said Al- 
gernon, reassuringly. 

By this time they had reached their destination, 
and their conversation turned to other topics. 
They found the place just as it had been repre- 
sented in every particular, and an agreement was 
soon closed between Mrs. Granville and the owner. 

That night Mrs. Granville, Algernon and Josie, 
sat until a late hour, planning for their future. 

This was a novel situation for Mrs. Granville, 
for never before had she deliberated or discussed 
her plans with anyone, and she really enjoyed it. 
And it seemed to Algernon that a new life had 
opened for him, and Josie, well, for the first time 
in her young life she realized that she could be 
useful. 

^^There is one thing, children,” said Mrs. Gran- 
ville, addressing tlie youthful pair, ^That I wish 
to do soon, and that is to place the case of our 
lost train before the Court of Depredation 
Claims. It may be years and years before we can 
get a hearing, but we will win sooner or later, 
and if it never does me any good, why, it may 
help the younger ones. 

^‘You know, Algernon, that we lost about fifty 
thousand in that raid, and if we can recover only 
a portion of it, it would aid our children, at 
least,” she continued. 


2o8 Triumphs and Failures. 

^^Why, mama, did you really lose {hat muchf* 
exclaimed Josie in surprise. 

^^Yes, daughter, and a great deal more. That 
is a very low estimate of the real cash, beside what 
we lost in the four years in which we neglected our 
home,’^ replied Mrs. Granville, reflectively. 

With this, the trio bade each other good-night 
and retired. 

The next few weeks following were very, very 
busy ones. The land for the ranch had been pur- 
chased and must now be put in readings for prac- 
tical use. Then there was the purchase of stock 
which must soon follow, and together with the 
arrangement of home affairs for the convenience 
of Josie and the children, they were indeed a busy 
household. 

Sarah, the faithful woman, who had stood by 
her mistress through all kinds of misfortune, was 
retained as a permanent domestic, and it was de- 
cided that all further service should be obtained 
^^outside,’^ so as to avoid having more servants 
in the house. 

After about two months spent in this manner, 
Mrs. Granville and Algernon went South to pur- 
chase cattle. They were absent nearly two months 
when they returned with a fine herd of cattle and 
placed them upon the ranch. 

The following spring passed away and summer 
came with its long, hot days. And by this time 
there was to be seen upon the Granville ranch, 
for as such it was known, as fine a herd of cattle 
as had ever graced the Western prairies, now ready 
to be placed upon the market. 

At that time there was no market at which so 


Sunshine and Clouds. 209 

much live stock could be disposed of nearer than 
St. Louis, consequently they must drive the cat- 
tle there. 

^^Mother/^ said Algernon, ^^you do not intend 
going to St. Louis 

‘‘1 certainly do, Algernon,” replied his mother, 
^^for I could trust no one with anything so im- 
portant. You know that everything depends upon 
the success of this enterprise. If we succeed, we 
are again upon the high road to fortune, and if 
we fail, why^ vice-versa. I shall most certainly 
go !” emphatically added Mrs. Granville. 

Algernon knew his mother well enough to un- 
derstand that protest was useless, and he said no 
more, but proceeded under her directions to pre- 
pare for the long, tiresome journey before them. 

For days and days they slowly toiled on, each 
night finding a rude lodging somewhere among 
the rustic inhabitants, until they reached their 
destination. 

Once there the stock was sold at enormous 
prices^ and thus the harvest yielded to this un- 
tiring woman was bountiful. 

They reached their home after an absence of 
twenty days, to the great delight of Josie and the 
children. 

^^Now, Josie,” said Mrs. Granville, when she 
had finished giving an account of all that had 
happened since their departure, not omitting the 
amount which had been cleared on the investment, 
^^you shall have a better house to live in, for you 
deserve it.” 

^‘Oh, I thank you, mama ! I shall be glad in- 
deed, although I have been perfectly content with 


210 Triumphs and Failures. 

this one/^ cried Josie, kissing Mrs. Granville af- 
fectionately. 

am quite sure that you never complained, 
my dear, but I know you would be more com- 
fortable and would be happier for it,” continued 
Mrs. Granville. 

In due course of time the promised house was 
erected, and at that time was the most beauti- 
ful and commodious dwelling in the town or sur- 
rounding country. 

The lamily was soon installed there with Mrs. 
Forresman as its mistress, for Mrs. Granville was 
too much absorbed in outdoor affairs to give even 
a thought’ to the minor matters of household du- 
ties, and it was all left with pretty Mrs. Forres- 
man, who thoroughly enjoyed it. 

The following winter was spent much in the 
same manner as the one previous, and the sum- 
mer likewise, as were several others. 

Mrs. Granville had not become a favorite with 
the people in this section, as she had been in her 
Northern home. The bitter experiences through 
which she had passed, had permeated her very 
soul with a deadly misanthropy, that not even a 
lifetime could eradicate. She distrusted all men 
as her common enemy, and she never let an op- 
portunity pass which enabled her to display her 
attitude toward the sex, which was very indis- 
creet. 

She was altogether inconsiderate of their rights 
and, in fact, she made good her declaration that 
she would ^Trample upon the rights of men as 
they had trampled upon her.” 

The men of the surrounding country looked 


Sunshine and Clouds. 


2II 


upon her as they would any man in business, for 
they well understood that she would show them 
no favors in case she was dealing with them and 
that they must deal with her, just as they would 
with one of their own sex. 

The women disliked her partly because they 
envied her and partly because of their strict ‘Tu- 
ritan’^ notions concerning the rights of the fe- 
male sex. A ^‘^masculine woman” actually in their 
midst was almost more than they could bring 
themselves to allow. 

To be sure there was one exception to this iron 
rule of hers. As bitterly as she opposed the 
sterner sex, she devoutly loved her son, although 
she realized that even he was unworthy of her 
selfish affection. 

Thus things moved on year after year and her 
wealth steadily increased, and her domestic tran- 
quillity had become fully established again, when 
a sudden gloom was cast over the peaceful house- 
hold by the death of little Carrie. 

It was indeed a heavy blow to them all. Mrs. 
Granville herself, felt as if there were no room 
upon this earth for anything that she loved, so 
bitter was her sorrow. 

The affection so lately bestowed upon the one 
now departed must now find a place with the 
three little ones of whom Josie had become the 
mother. Lenna, the eldest, a bright, laughing 
child of five summers; Grace, a dainty babe of 
three, and Horace, an infant. 

Mrs. Granville with her usual firmness of char- 
acter, went about her daily duties, but somehow 
it seemed to take a great deal more force of will 


212 Triumphs and Failures. 

to smother the flames of her passionate grief than 
ever before. But in a few days she had mastered 
it completely, and went about in her accustomed 
way, hiding her aching heart with the bright smile 
that covered her face. 

For several years the boat of finance glided so 
smoothly along, that anyone else than Mrs. Gran- 
ville would have forgotten that she had ever been 
the victim of shipwreck. But not so with this 
ever-mindful woman. She remembered every 
scene, every heartache and pang which she had 
suffered, and it was this that kept her ever watch- 
ful of what might befall her. 


The Dastardly Work of Fiends. 213 


CHAPTEK XXI. 

THE DASTARDLY WORK OF FIENDS. 

"'The jealoiLS wrath of the fool shall descend 
upon the heads of the just and the unjust/" 

That fall, as was their custoin, Mrs. Granville 
and Algernon went to Texas to purchase cattle. 

On their return some weeks later the news 
spread like wildfire that Mrs. Granville and Al- 
gernon Forrespian contemplated driving a herd of 
Texas cattle through the country. 

This was no unusual occurrence, however, for 
each and every year since Mrs. Granville had been 
a resident of that place she had done likewise. 
But each year of her brilliant triumphs only 
served to kindle the fiames of jealousy which were 
engendered in almost every heart into a raging 
fire of hatred, which could only be quenched by 
the consummation of their abominable designs. 

The ^^Quarantine Law^’ provided that any 
Southern cattle might be brought North across 
the Southern line of Kansas, if they had been 
wintered in the Indian Territory. 

Mrs. Granville had always been very careful to 


214 Triumphs and Failures. 

observe this point of law, therefore, she had no 
fear of being molested. 

The men of the town and surrounding coun- 
try had been less observant upon this point than 
had their despised enemy, or pretended to be at 
least. They seemed to forget that she was acting 
upon the authority of the law% and assumed that 
this act of driving the cattle through the state, 
afforded them a grave pretense for giving vent 
to their jealous wrath toward her. 

Men could be seen gathering about in little 
squads here and there, and conversing in low 
tones as if their lives depended upon their quiet- 
ness. At last a meeting was held in the town hall, 
and proceedings were gone through that escaped 
the lips of no man. 

When Mrs. Granville and Algernon Forresman 
rode through the streets that night, it was a sig- 
nal for everyone to act and by the time their 
sentinels, who lived in the country, had arrived 
to inform them of the location of the cattle, every 
man in town who was interested in cattle in any 
manner, had gathered at the designated place. 

At twelve o’clock that night, thirty daring and 
lawless men on horseback and armed to the teeth, 
silently moved out of town. 

They rode on until their guide informed them 
that they were within a mile of their enemies, the 
cattle. 

They then halted to await the coming of day, 
when they mounted their horses and headed by 
their captain, rode toward the unsuspecting cow- 
boys who were in charge of the cattle. 

When the small army was just going over the 


The Dastardly Work of Fiends. 215 

hill, a short distance from their prey, one of the 
cowboys discovered them and said to his compan- 
ions, ‘‘^Look out there, boys ! What d’you s’pose 
that means ? See, there is fifty uv 'em, anyhow 

‘^1 reckon it can^’t mean any harm to us,” 
growled one of the others, who was only half 
awake, “fur we hain^t killed nor robbed anybody.” 

“But, they^re a-comin^ straight at us, anyhow, 
whether they mean any harm or not!” said the 
first speaker. 

^^ell, let ’em come! We will give ’em the 
best we’ve got. If they are really after us^ we 
kin pick out their leaders, while they are gittin’ 
us, anyhow,” coolly replied the other, as he re- 
adjusted the heavy belt loaded with cartridges 
and examined his pistol at his side. 

The leader of the approaching band was near 
enough by this time to note this action upon the 
part of the cowboy, and he quickly drew from 
his pocket^ a large white handkerchief and waved 
it high above his head, which was to indicate that 
there were to be no hostilities at the present time, 
at least. 

The cowboy understood it at once and quietly 
sat down while the party approached. 

“Good-moming !” said the Captain, as he rode 

up. 

“Homin’, sir,” replied Jim, the cowboy. 

^^ell, my good man, we have come here to 
take charge of these cattle and we do not wish 
to have any trouble whatever with you boys. So, 
if you will just peaceably ride into town it will 
rfave you a great deal of annoyance,” said the 
Captain in a very commanding voice. 


2i6 Triumphs and Failures. 

“You take charge uv these here cattle, what we 
boys have been left to take keer uv!” thundered 
the astonished Jim. 

“That is what I said, and is just what I mean 1” 
coldly replied the Captain. 

“Well, to be shore, sir, we couldn’t let you have 
’em!” emphatically replied Jim, who was un- 
daunted by this small army before him. 

“Come, my man, you are wasting words ! Mount 
your horses and ride into town and spare your- 
selves trouble, for the cattle ybu cannot save!" 
cried the Captain in a warning voice. 

“Ef we can’t save the brutes, we kin at least 
take keer liv a few uv you devils what gits ’em!” 
replied Jim, his eyes darting forth the indigna- 
tion which he felt. 

“Then, you absolutely refuse to give them over 
peaceably?” inquired the Captain. 

“Absolutely, sir!” repeated Jim very firmly. 

“Then, my men,” said the Captain, turning to 
his men, “they must take the consequences of 
their own ill- judgment ! At your work, boys !” 
he shouted, which was the last command he ever 
gave upon this earth. 

When he gave the command his men rode di- 
rectly for the poor, dumb brutes, now fast arising 
from their night’s repose, and so peacefully chew- 
ing their cuds, and opened fire upon them. 

Jim, up to this moment had not anticipated 
them, but now fully alive to the situation, he 
cried to his comrades, /Tome, boys, we will do 
the best we kin fur ’em!” 

The three brave and true-hearted cowboys 


The Dastardly Work of Fiends. 217 

sprang into their saddles and were after the blood- 
thirsty villains in an instant. 

'Tick the leaders first, boys! I’ll take keer of 
the Captain !” shouted Jim above the din and 
roar. 

A moment later and the infamous Captain lay 
upon the ground, weltering in his own life’s blood. 

This opened the fight which lasted but a few 
seconds between the three gallant cowboys, who 
would sacrifice their own lives to protect the prop- 
erty which had been left in their charge, and a 
lawless band of citizens who had decided to make 
a law by force of arms. 

A few seconds later when the firing ceased and 
the smoke had cleared away, the three noble boys 
who had so intrepidly defended the right, together 
with five of the marauders, lay dead upon the 
ground. 

This personal encounter was quite a surprise 
to the outlaws, but it was too late to retract; 
besides, their fury had only been increased by the 
unexpected loss of their friends, and James Mc- 
Donald, second in command, rallied his men, and 
proceeded in the execution of their foul work. 

The desperate battle between Eight and Eebel- 
lion occurred just as the sun in all his glory 
peeped over the eastern horizon and the terrible 
work of destruction was not completed until about 
the hour of eleven. 

As revolting a scene lay there upon the beauti- 
ful sunny Kansas prairie as was ever witnessed 
by the human eye ! Eight men, who had fought 
their last earthly fight, lay swathed in their own 
life’s blood, while just alongside, lay scattered 


21 8 Triumphs and Failures. 

about, dead and dying, two thousand head of as 
fine cattle as had ever entered a Western market. 

But what were Mrs. Granville and Algernon 
Forresman doing while this slaughter of man 
and beast was in progress? We shall see. 

That morning Mrs. Granville arose early and 
she, with her son, was ready to leave home to 
ioin the boys at daybreak. The horses had been 
brought round, and she opened the door to step 
outside, when something fluttered from the door 
knob and fell at her feet. 

She involuntarily stooped and picked it up. 
It was a letter addressed to herself and written 
in a plain, bold hand. 

^^Why, Algernon, what can this be?” exclaimed 
Mrs. Granville, and her hand trembled violently 
as she broke the seal, although she could not have 
told why it did so. 

It ran thus: 

^^Mt Dear Madam : — To-night ends the boasted 
career of the “^New Woman’ of our town ! We 
have decided to be a law unto ourselves, and not 
allow a vaunting, ostentatious female, to longer 
trample upon our rights. It is against our in- 
terest (although we have no protection by law) 
to allow Texas cattle to be brought into this state, 
and we have organized a body for self-protection, 
and shall destroy every head of the stock which 
you have brought into our country! You being 
a Voman,^ we will do you no bodily harm, but 
if you attempt to make us any trouble, at any 


The Dastardly Work of Fiends. 219 

time whatever, we will hang that ^coxcombical 
son^ of yours to the highest limb that can be 
found near here. Before you will have read this 
bit of information, your boasted herd will be fall- 
ing by the score ! We warn you — do not attempt 
to follow us! COMMITTEE.^^ 

Mrs. Granville perused the deadly missive to 
the last, but by the time she had finished, she 
was as cold as an iceberg, and the paper fell from 
her nerveless hand. 

“Why, mother, what on earth can be the mat- 
ter?’^ cried Algernon, thoroughly alarmed, for he 
had never seen his mother look like that. 

“It is all over with us now, Algernon she 
gasped. “Let me sit down,” and she moved to- 
ward a chair, but would have fallen had not the 
strong arm of her son caught her. 

He rang for the servants, and Josie who had 
heard the unusual disturbance came in. When 
she caught sight of the white set face, her poor 
little heart almost stood still, but in an instant 
she had regained her presence of mind and ran 
for brandy. 

Just then the servants came rushing in and at 
sight of their mistress, began to loudly bewail 
her sad fate, for they really believed her to be dead. 

“Stop your nonsense and come here and assist 
your mistress !” commanded Algernon, in a voice 
which the poor, frightened servants could scarcely 
believe belonged to their kind, debonnair master, 
but it sufficed to bring them to their senses and 
they began work in earnest. 

Josie soon returned with the brandy, and when 


220 Triumphs and Failures. 

the stricken woman had partaken of it freely, she 
revived and was able to speak. 

^^What has caused this, Alger whispered 
Josie, who was as yet ignorant of the existence 
of the letter. 

‘^It is this, Josie,” he replied, stooping and pick- 
ing up the letter, ^^but I do not know what it con- 
tains to affect her so.” 

Algernon turned, ordered the servants to re- 
tire and then proceeded to read the same fatal 
words that had so affected his strong-hearted 
mother. 

Had Algernon Forresman really read his own 
death sentence (which indeed this was, unless he 
and his mother complied with certain demands), 
he could not have looked worse. His face became 
as white as death and his form trembled so vio- 
lently, that he could scarcely stand. 

^^This letter must contain something dread- 
ful T exclaimed Josie, as she attempted to take 
the paper from the hand of her husband. 

Mrs. Granville, who had regained her full com- 
posure, and was sitting upright in her chair, an- 
ticipated her daughter, and put forth a detain- 
ing hand, saying, ‘'Ho, Josie, you must not read 
it ! It is not intended for anyone but myself !” 

Josie, always accustomed to acquiesce, to even 
the slightest wish of her mother, did not attempt 
to gain possession of the letter again, but said, 
'‘Mama, you know that I love you and Alger- 
non most dearly, and I think whatever comes 
that so affects you both, I have a right to share 
it.” 

"That is all true enough, my dear daughter. 


The Dastardly Work of Fiends. 221 

but you must consider your health. There is 
time enough yet, and you shall know it all when 
the proper time comes,” replied Mrs. Granville, 
as calmly as if she were discussing plans with her 
dressmaker, or planning a treat for the children. 

Her calm manner reassured Josie, and she be- 
came more quiet. 

Algernon had not spoken a word since he had 
read the fatal lines, but stood like a statue — ^like 
one petrified and immovable, until his mother ad- 
dressed him. 

^^Algemon, we had best consider this matter,” 
she said. 

‘^Yes, mother,” he replied, moving to a chair 
and wiping the great drops of perspiration from 
his brow. 

'Mosie, my dear, will you please retire?” kindly 
inquired Mrs. Granville, turning to Josie. 

‘^But, mama 

^‘Let me assure you, Josie, that this means no 
harm to anyone; it is only a loss of property — 
a very large loss,” replied Mrs. Granville very ear- 
nestly, and Josie arose and left the room. 

“You are so good, mama,” said poor Josie, as 
she closed the door behind her. 

When Josie was out of hearing, Algernon said: 
^W^ell, mother, you always find a way out of all 
difficulties; have you any plan to meet this ex- 
tremity?” 

“No, Algernon, there really is no alternative 
for us! By this time those fiends are at their 
dastardly work and before we could reach them, 
the work of extermination will have been com- 
pleted, or nearly so, and beside we run a great 


221 Triumphs and Failures. 

risk of our lives should we interfere with them 
in the midst of their excitement/^ replied Mrs. 
Granville, thoughtfully. 

‘^But, could we not obtain authority and ap- 
prehend them?’^ suggested Algernon. 

^‘We could obtain no authority in this town, 
for that band of rebels is composed of the citizens 
of this place and the surrounding country, and we 
could not find a man who would dare to raise his 
hand against them, even though he wished to do 
so/^ she replied. 

^‘That is all true, mother. I had not thought 
of it in that way,” he said. 

^^Beside, if I attempt doing anything whatever, 
their wrath will fall upon your head, because of 
the fact that / am a woman. If they were not a 
band who did their mischief by night, and fur- 
thermore, base nothing upon honor, I would not 
be afraid to face the whole army of them. But 
you see they are cowardly enough to take refuge 
from my wrath, by suspending your life between 
me and their safety. And they are just the sneak- 
ing poltroons that will fulfil every threat under 
cover of darkness,” continued Mrs. Granville. 

know that what you say is true, mother, but 
it is very hard to sit here, when we know that 
everything we possess is being destroyed by a 
band of lawless devils,” replied Algernon. 

^^Yes, it is indeed hard, but I am quite sure 
we could do no good in the way of prevention, 
and we might both lose our lives in the rashness 
of the moment,” argued Mrs. Granville. 

‘‘I will abide by your judgment, mother,” said 
Algernon, for he well knew that if she believed 


The Dastardly Work of Fiends. 223 

there was the shadow of a hope, nothing conld 
prevent her from acting. 

^^ell, I think we had best remain here a few 
hours and await results. In the meantime we 
must explain to Josie what is going on, for the 
suspense will be worse than the knowledge, but 
we must never let her know of the threats made 
against you,” she replied. 

Algernon now went in search of his wife. He 
found her looking quite pale and very nervous, 
for the suspense had indeed been hard for her 
to bear. 

^^Come, little wife, mother wants you,” said Al- 
gernon, addressing her with a great deal more 
cheerfulness than he really felt. 

The two went together to Mrs. Granville, and 
she explained to Josie in a very careful manner, 
what was at that moment in progress, omitting 
as much of the darker part as was possible for 
her to do. Thus the terrible news was gently 
broken to her — ^the news which no power on 
earth could prevent her knowing, and its dire- 
ful consequences no earthly hand could restrain. 

The long and tedious hours of morning passed 
away and about the hour of noon, news of the 
awful tragedy began to pour into town. 

Mrs. Granville and Algernon had spent the 
morning as best they could, in trying to comfort 
the nervous and restless Josie. 

Soon a man on horseback rode up to the front 
gate. 

“I will see what he wants,” said Algernon ris- 
ing 

But his wife clung to him saying, ^'Ho, Alger, 


224 Triumphs and Failures. 

I will go, for they will not harm me, and who 
knows, but he wishes to entice you out for foul 
play !” 

^‘^Oh, no, daughter, I will go said Mrs. Gran- 
ville, gently restraining the poor frightened crea- 
ture, and laughing lightly at her fears, although 
she felt the same anxiety for her son’s safety as 
did his wife, but she wisely kept it to herself. 

With these words she went out at the door to 
meet the man at the gate who proved to be one of 
the men from the ranch, and one whom Mrs. 
Granville knew to be her friend. 

^^What news have you, David?” she said, as 
she approached him. 

^^hTot very good news, ma’am, but I hope you 
won’t be frightened when I tell you,” replied 
David, for he dreaded the interview. 

understand all about it, David. I know 
what the fiends have been doing, so you need not 
fear to tell me anything/' she said, as she noticed 
his hesitation. 

^^Well, ma’am, I guess you understand about 
the cattle. Well, you know that you left three 
of the boys there in charge of ’em. Well — well, 
every last one of ’em has been killed by them dev- 
ils, and what I want to know, is what shall be 
done with ’em. I mean the dead boys,” explained 
David, half brokenly, for there was a kind of af- 
fection between those rough men of the saddle. 

^‘Eeally, David, that is shocking, almost beyond 
endurance. I did not think they would dare to 
harm the poor disinterested boys,” replied Mrs. 
Granville, her voice quivering with the terrible 
emotion which she felt. 


The Dastardly Work of Fiends. 225 

"But they did, ma’am. They’re as dead as a 
board, every one of ’em,” declared David, with 
a tear of indignation trickling down his bronzed 
cheek. 

"The only thing that can be done for them now, 
is to bring them to town and give them a respecta- 
ble burial,” said Mrs. Granville, when she could 
again trust herself to speak. 

"Well, at any rate, the poor boys didn’t lose 
their lives for nothin’. While they was bein’ 
killed, they took keer of five of the other ones,” 
continued David, who actually took comfort in 
that fact. 

"Do you mean to say, that five of the outlaws 
were killed?” ejaculated Mrs. Granville in sur- 
prise. 

"That’s just what I meant to say,” affirmed 
David. 

"This is one dreadful affair !” moaned Mrs. 
Granville, for this intelligence only increased her 
fears for her son’s safety. "Where are the dead 
men, David?” 

"They are all down here in a wagon — that is, 
our boys. I went immediately after hearing of 
the murders and brought them to town, and now 
I want you to say what shall be done next,” re- 
plied David. 

"David, do you really think it safe for Alger- 
non to leave the house, or go among those men 
at present?” she inquired. 

"No, ma’am, I do not! He had better stay 
where he is until this excitement is over a bit,” 
frankly admitted David. 

^^ell, in that event, you will be compelled to 


226 Triumphs and Failures. 

take charge of the poor slain boys. I am not 
afraid to go anywhere and will assist yon all I 
can,” she said. 

^‘1 will do the very best I can, and will call 
at the house and let you know if anything of im- 
portance comes up,” said David as he rode away. 

Mrs. Granville turned and entered the house, 
feeling in her own heart, as David had so plainly 
expressed, that five of those daredevils, at least, 
had received a just recompense for their foul deed, 
and that fact was a great consolation to her. 

‘^What did David want, mama ?” inquired Josie, 
with feverish anxiety, as she entered. 

^^He came to tell us of the awful destruction. 
He did not know whether we were aware of it 
or not,” replied Mrs. Granville with the light of 
truth shining from her eyes, and Josie believed 
it. 

To be sure she had spoken the truth, but she 
carefully avoided a revelation of the whole truth, 
for just now she was very anxious for the wel- 
fare of her precious daughter. 

When opportunity presented itself, she ac- 
quainted her son with all she had learned. ^^But 
we must give every precaution to the care of our 
precious girl, else we may lose her,” she added, 
sadly shaking her head. 

realize the danger, mother, and will not at- 
tempt to leave her. You can safely do all that 
is necessary, and she does not fear for you,” he 
replied sadly. 

Many were the saddened hearts and darkened 
homes when the shades of another night gath- 
ered over the little village. Eight human beings 


The Dastardly Work of Fiends. 227 

which at sunrise that morning were full of life 
and manly vigor, had answered to the final roll 
call, and lay enshrouded in the mysteries of 
Death, while their companions kept anxious vigil 
over their inanimate forms, as if to guard them 
from further evil until they should he consigned 
to their last abode. 

The next day dawned as fair and bright over 
the beautiful land as it had on that other fatal 
morning, when an arrogant, imperious captain 
rode at the head of his little army, and com- 
manded three brave cowboys to desert their post 
of duty, but it now dawned upon a different scene. 
The Captain and four of his followers must soon 
fill the grave of the murderer, for the blood of 
the three faithful cowboys had stained their al- 
ready dark souls; and the valiant boys who had 
so nobly fought for the right, would soon lay 
in their narrow beds, sleeping the sleep of the 
just. 


228 


Triumphs and Failures. 


CHAPTER XXII. 

THE TRAGEDY CLAIMS OTHER VICTIMS. 

'^Death comes when least expected, and rohs 
us of our choicest treasures/* 

Everything at the Granville household was 
very quiet^ and the inmates conversed in low tones 
and trod softly as they moved about, for Josie 
Forresman was indeed quite ill, and grave, anx- 
ious faces were watching over her. 

^Tlease, mama, will you turn my bed just a 
little, that I may look out of the window?’’ 

^‘Yes, Josie, I will,” replied the kind voice of 
Mrs. Granville, turning the bed, so as to furnish 
the invalid a view of the quiet part of town, 
thinking as she did so, that there would be no un- 
due confusion there. 

Josie lay and looked out of the window for 
some time, when suddenly her eyes fell upon a 
long procession, slowly and solemnly ascending 
the hill to the cemetery, a half-mile away. 

Her eyes became riveted upon the scene before 
her, and involuntarily she raised herself upon her 
elbow and counted — ^^one, two, three, four, five,” 
as the sombre, impressive march continued up the 
hill. 


Tragedy Claims Other Victims. 229 

The fall meaning of it now dawned upon her 
feverish brain. ‘^Yes,” she said, “five caskets!’^ 
and with a shriek she fell back upon her pillow. 

Mrs. Granville turned just in time to see her 
daughter fall, and ran to her assistance. She 
found her in a dead faint, and she hastily sum- 
moned Algernon, and a servant was despatched 
for the physician. 

When she had regained consciousness, she said: 
“Oh, mama, I saw five caskets going up the hill 
to the cemetery I Where those people killed in 
that awful trouble of yesterday?’’ 

Mrs. Granville saw no alternative but to tell 
her the truth, for she had guessed it, and could 
not now be deceived. 

“Yes, daughter, the men had a little altercation 
and some of them were fatally wounded,” replied 
Mrs, Granville, placing it in a modified form. 

Josie gave a little sigh of relief as she heard 
these words, for somehow, in the manner the 
new's was broken, it did not sound so badly to her 
after all. 

The physician came. He examined his pa- 
tient and said very cheerily : “Why, Mrs. For- 
resman, they are trying to make me believe that you 
are ill. You will be out of this in a few days.” 

But his words and his manner conveyed a dif- 
ferent meaning when he was alone with Mrs. 
Granville. 

“We will do our best, Mrs. Granville, but your 
daughter’s life is balanced upon a mere thread. 
If that thread breaks, no power on earth can save 
her, and T fear for the worst,” he said, shaking 
his head sadly. 


230 Triumphs and Failures. 

The physician^s words were only too true. That 
night the fragile cord 'of life was torn asunder, 
and the pure, sweet spirit of Josie Forresman 
fled homeward, bearing in her arms the innocent 
spirit of her new-born babe. Thus, the hush of 
death again fell upon that peaceful household, but 
it had never before brought such intense sorrow 
or more passionate grief, for surely Josie For- 
resman had been the sunshine of that home. 

When the sad news spread over the little vil- 
lage and the cause of it became known, there was 
profound consternation in every honest heart. 
Those of the citizens who had taken no part in 
the bloody affair, were now fully aroused and 
had it not been for the cool judgment and wise 
discipline of a few older heads, civil war would 
have ensued between the two factions. 

The daring, lawless band who had organized 
to enforce laws to their own minds, had not only 
murdered the three honest and unoffending cow- 
boys, but they had taken the life of this pure, 
sweet woman, and that of her then unborn babe. 

Ah, guilty were their black souls indeed, when 
even the blood of the unborn infant and the in- 
nocent helpless woman should stain their unholy 
hands and make yet redder the already crimson 
hue of their foul, sin-stained career. 

The good people of the town followed the re- 
mains of Mrs. Forresman to their last resting- 
place with their hearts full of sorrow, and when 
they laid her away they closed the door upon all 
the light and happiness of the home that had been 
made so serenely happy by her noble presence. 

The great bereavement in their family, together 


Tragedy Claims Other Victims. 231 

with the loss of all their worldly possessions, was 
almost more than even brave Mrs. Granville could 
bear. For several days she was on the brink of 
a collapse, but her wonderful resources of cour- 
age and self-will came to her rescue, and she 
avoided any sign of the mental anguish which she 
endured. 

Then, too, her son was completely undone. He 
seemed to forget everything in the bitterness of 
his great loss. But, crushing with an iron hand 
the sorrow that was gnawing her own heart, she 
spoke words of comfort to her sorrowing son, 
for none could offer words of consolation to sor- 
row such as his but the one who came near to suf- 
fering the same. 

But look at this picture: A slight woman 
with a stern, white, set face, yet still bearing 
traces of beauty, hair as white as the driven 
snow, and eyes — well, they look the abhorrence 
which she feels to almost all mankind, bending 
over the prostrate form of a young man whom 
she calls ^^son,” and speaking words so kind and 
comforting, that they belie the speaker. But 
this man is her son, and she yet loves him, but 
the hatred which she feels for all others can be 
told best by those eyes which silently reveal the 
story. 

There is no one in this wide world to comfort 
her wounded spirit or give balm to her aching 
heart. No, not one. For who in all the land 
had ever suffered so much or borne with it with 
such fortitude ? But she must now with her gray 
hair and her almost three-score of years, bear the 
heaviest burden that was ever placed upon hu- 


232 Triumphs and Failures. 

man shoulders. No other woman than Salenna 
Granville could have lived under so many trials, 
but she bore them all silently and alone. 

It was not until Algernon had grown quite 
calm and resigned to his fate, that she attempted 
speaking with him upon any matters of busi- 
ness, and it was not until then that he noticed 
the great change in her. 

When he once looked at her with calm and 
reasoning eyes, one glance told it all. Could it 
be possible that this was his same, beautiful 
mother, who had so lovingly ministered to his 
wife only a few days ago? 

Yes, this is one and the same, but, oh, how 
changed ! The once beautiful, brown hair which 
had only now and then a stray thread of silver, 
was now snowy white, and the face, which through 
all the sorrows of life had remained un furrowed, 
was now deeply lined and, in fact, she had grown 
old — quite old since he remembered having seen 
her by the bedside of his dying wife, on that fatal 
night, when all the sunshine and happiness had 
left their home. 

At length Mrs. Granville said to him : “Al- 
gernon, we must soon begin to think about our 
changed circumstances and to settle our minds 
upon something for the future.’’ 

“Oh, the future ! That is what troubles me ! 
The dark, dark future !” he exclaimed in grief. 

“Well, you must endeavor to have some of the 
fortitude of your mother. I have passed through 
many, many hard trials in this life, and I always 
came out wiser for my experience. You now 
have four children dependent upon you and me, 


Tragedy Claims Other Victims. 233 

for what their future lives shall be, and we must 
endeavor to do as well by them as their own dear 
mother would have done. Of course, we cannot 
give them the advantages now that w^e would have 
done had fortune still smiled upon us, but w'e 
must do the best we can,’^ replied his mother. 

“I know, mother, that all you say is true, but 
you know that I never had the strength of char- 
acter that you possess,^^ replied Algernon, falter- 
ingly. 

understand, Algernon,” sorrowfully ad- 
mitted his mother. 

Algernon sat looking at his mother in thought- 
ful silence for several moments, and while gaz- 
ing upon that small form wdth its iron will and 
determined spirit, he solemnly vowed to him- 
self that in the future he would be more of a 
^^man,” and endeavor to be a comfort to her in 
her declining years, instead of the helpless, thrift- 
less care he had always been to her. 

But, alas, for such weak resolutions. When 
a man has grown to maturity and still advanced 
farther on in years, with no mind of his own or 
no care as to the affairs of life, it is a great deal 
easier to form resolutions than it is to execute 
them. 

“I realize, mother, that something must be 
done, but it will require very careful considera- 
tion on our part to determine the proper course 
to be taken,” he replied, placing considerable 
stress upon the word ^^our.” 

Mrs. Granville did not pretend to notice this, 
and said : ‘‘Well, I will leave you to yourself 
to think out this problem, for I must confess, that 


234 Triumphs and Failures. 

it is the most vexing case that I have ever had 
upon my hands/’ 

For the first time in her life Salenna Gran- 
ville realized that age was actually creeping upon 
her, which was very cruel knowledge to her now, 
but only a few days since had this truth dawned 
upon her, she would have said, “I have done a 
good life’s work and my reward has been boun- 
tiful, therefore, I have no reason to complain of 
Time when it so silently steals upon me.” 

But her thoughts were far from that now, and 
as she looked upon the snowy hair and furrowed 
brow which her mirror reflected, she cursed in 
her own heart the hands that had wrought it. 
^^Oh, were it not for the safety of my own child, 
I should not pause until I had lain low each and 
every one that raised a hand against me or mine ! 
I would slay them with less mercy than they mani- 
fested to the poor dumb brutes which they took 
so much pride in slaughtering!” she cried, with 
abated breath and clenched hands. 

“The wretched cowards to take refuge from 
justice by threats of more crime, which they 
would commit under cover of darkness !” 

“No, I will not trouble them with the law, but 
I shall act personally and then, oh, sweet will 
be my revenge ! I will at least have the pleasure 
of knowing that they have justly compensated for 
robbing poor, dear Josie of her fair, young life! 
I shall let no opportunities pass to avenge her un- 
timely death — no, not one!” she resolutely vowed 
as she reviewed the whole situation. 

As soon as was ])racticable, she sent all the serv- 
ants (except Sarah) away, and set to rights all 


Tragedy Claims Other Victims. 235 

minor things, without consulting her son. She 
then approached him upon the subject again, for 
she had entirely despaired of him mentioning it. 

Algernon had tried very hard to place his mind 
upon a thinking basis, but it had been so unac- 
customed to work, that the old saying, ‘^^The rust 
of the brain is the blight of genius/' had really 
become true in his case. He was unable to formu- 
late anything into a scale ready for action, and 
had wholly despaired of it when his mother again 
addressed him. 

^‘Well, Algernon, have you anything in view 
for us by this time?" she said to him a few days 
later. 

^^Oh, no, mother. I could not think. Surely, 
you have some way out of our difficulties by this 
time, for you always can find a way, where every- 
one else would fail," he replied, much to the dis- 
parity of his mother. 

She had really hoped to force his mind into 
activity in this manner, but she had signally failed 
and hope almost deserted her. 

^^Vell, I had hoped that in this — the greatest 
extremity of my hitherto versatile career, — ^that 
you, a strong, young man, would come to my as- 
sistance; but instead, you cast greater care upon 
me with each year of your life," replied his mother 
with a bitter reproachfulness that he bad never 
heard her utter before. 

He did not reply to this harsh chastisement, for 
he felt that he deserved even more than he had 
received. 

'^ell, I have plans of my own. Are you will- 


236 Triumphs and Failures. 

ing to conform to them ?” she continued, when she 
had observed his silence. 

^‘^Yes, mother, I will assist you in any way pos- 
sible, you know. It shall be just as it has al- 
ways been. You shall give the orders, and I 
shall assist in executing them,^^ replied Alger- 
non, evidently relieved by the announcement just 
made by his mother. 

‘‘Very well, then, you may stand ready to obey 
them. It is of no use for me to divulge my 
plans, for you could afford no advice upon them,” 
replied Mrs. Granville, with all the bitterness 
of her overwrought soul ringing in her voice as 
she left him. 

As Mrs. Granville closed the door, shutting 
from her vision the sight of her manly-Zoofcm^ 
son, she felt that the door of her heart was fast 
closing against the ardent affection which she 
had always had for him and that despite her own 
wishes, she must sooner or later place him in the 
ranks of his unfortunate sex (for in her estima- 
tion, he was unfortunate to belong to the male 
sex), for she was slowly but surely learning that 
she disrespected his weaknesses and she realized 
that without respect, love could not long exist. 

So with a heavy heart she turned her face once 
more to the plain, hard duties of life. 


An Unlooked-for Event. 


237 


CHAPTEE XXIII. 

AN UNLOOKED-FOR EVENT. 

There was no one to bring the horses round, 
as there had been in better days, so without a 
word to her son, she proceeded to the barn and 
soon appeared in the one-seated phaeton for a 
drive. 

Algernon saw his mother emerge from the bam 
and burning shame mantled his brow as he 
thought of how idly he had sat there and allowed 
her to perform such work. 

'T will certainly try to look after those little 
things, anyway. But I had really forgotten that 
there were no men at the bam,^^ he said to him- 
self as he ran out at the door to hail the object 
of his thoughts. 

'^here to, mother? May I go with you?^^ he 
called in one breath, as he saw the horses’ heads 
turned toward the ranch. 

‘^ou may go if you like. I am just going 
to the ranch,” she replied, drawing in her reins. 

The drive was made in silence, for Mrs. Gran- 
ville’s head was too full of her new plans (and 
she had vowed that she would not again ask ad- 
vice from her son) for conversation, and Alger- 
non — well he felt that there was nothing for him 
to say. 


238 Triumphs and Failures. 

When they reached the ranch Mrs. Granville 
made a thorough examination of everything. She 
then drove into town again as silently as she had 
driven out. 

The next morning she announced to Sarah her 
intention of going away, to be absent several days. 

^^ell, now my dear Mis’ses, what would you 
do without your poor, old Sarah? I knowed I 
could help you V’ cried Sarah, chuckling with 
delight. 

‘T knew that you would be of great service to 
me, Sarah. I only feared for your salary,” re- 
plied that lady, smiling. 

Algernon overheard the conversation and came 
in saying, ^^Mother, if you are going out on busi- 
ness, had I better not go with you?” 

^‘You may go if you choose, Algernon. It cer- 
tainly would be pleasanter to have company,” she 
replied. 

‘^When do you go ?” he inquired. 

^^At once,” was the decisive answer. 

Without a word, Algernon turned and walked 
to the bam and a few moments later appeared 
at the front gate with the team. As Mrs. Gran- 
ville entered the phaeton, she took charge of the 
reins as much as to say, “You do not know where 
we are going,” which was very true, for he had 
not the slightest idea of her intentions. 

They drove on all day and at night found them- 
selves within the borders of the M Indian 

Eeservation, and before night had closed over 
them the following day, Mrs. Granville had found 
a beautiful location and had secured a lease upon 
a fine tiaet of land from Adolph Morrison, a 


An Unlooked-for Event. 


239 

white man, who had married an eighth-breed In- 
dian. 

By this time Algernon had begun to appre- 
hend his mother. ^^She is going to locate here,"’ 
he said, ^^and I do not like it one bit. But I have 
no right to complain.” 

The next day after Mrs. Grranville reached 
home, she offered for sale her ranch and all 
her belongings, together with her beautiful home. 

Winter had come on by this time and Mrs. 
Granville now knowing that everything had been 
swept away, with the exception of the small, 
shabby herd down oto the miserable, little lease, 
and as her means of living were growing very 
short, she decided to remove here in time to have 
spring crops planted, to aid them in their liv- 
ing until she could obtain means from some other 
source. 

Just when the heavy winds of March were rac- 
ing over the prairies and the first flowers of spring 
were peeping their tiny heads from •beneath the 
grassy sod, this adventurous and storm-driven wom- 
an packed her now scanty belongings and moved 
slowly out from the place where she had experi- 
enced as nearly as could be upon this earth, the 
bliss of Heaven and the execrations of Hell. 

She settled with the family upon the new 
ranch and went to work as earnestly as if she had 
been accustomed to it for a lifetime. 

Algernon,” she said to her son one day, “1 
have just met the foreman of the large ranch 
over the way, and he informed me that they are 
in need of employees. Could you not take the po- 
sition? You can earn fifty dollars per month 


240 Triumphs and Failures. 

and that would not be so hard od you, as the 
work which Harold is doing.” 

Algernon was shocked beyond measure, to think 
that his mother really wished him to become a 
servant. 

^‘^Why, mother, what can you be thinking of, 
to wish me to become a common hired man, or 
a slow, plodding farmer either !” he exclaimed, 
looking at his white hands, while his handsome 
face showed the indignity which he felt at the 
mere thought of it. 

“Algernon, I am only thinking of the ways and 
means of keeping the wolf from our door until 
we can in some way make a start again. At this 
time I have only a few dollars in my purse, and 
it seems to take a great deal to support us, now 
that we can so easily count our dollars,” she re- 
plied with a note of disappointment in her voice. 

“Then you will not take the position ?” she con- 
tinued when he did not reply. 

“Most assuredly, I will not stoop so low as to 
become a common herder or a plowman !” replied 
Algernon with a haughty air. 

Poor, proud, shiftless Algernon Forresman had 
never done anything in his life and what was 
more, he intended to take care that work was not 
forced upon him. He never considered the fact 
that it was his own family that his old mother 
was worrying her brain to support, for, in fact, 
he never thought of labor in any manner, for 
that always made him tired. 

“Very well, then, you need not take it; but, 
my son, you may be something worse than a ‘com- 
mon herder’ or ‘a plowman,’ if you still remain 


An Unlooked-for Event. 241 

as idle-minded as you are at present and have 
been all your life V’ said his mother as she sor- 
rowfully turned away. 

She went directly to Harold and held a con- 
sultation with him, for it seemed to her of late, 
that this noble, manly boy had really become her 
staff of life, for he always found words to soothe 
her sorrows and comfort her troubled spirit, and 
he was always willing to perform any task nec- 
essary for their well-being, even though he was 
wholly unaccustomed to manual labor. 

^‘^Harold, my boy’^ (this was her favorite ex- 
pression), “I have just talked with the overseer 
of the large ranch over the way, and he informs 
me that they are in need of an employee over 
there. I just mentioned it to Algernon, think- 
ing perhaps he would take the position, since we 
are so in need of it, but he absolutely refuses to 
do any kind of labor. I think I shall take it 
myself. What do you think of it?^^ explained 
Mrs. Granville. 

“Oh, mother, that would be terrible ! It would 
really be a disgrace to have you go out to earn 
money like that, when there are two strong, able 
men hereT^ cried Harold in horror. 

“I understand that it will be a disgrace upon 
my son, but not upon you, Harold, for while I 
am earning money to buy our bread, .you will 
be working every day for a harvest by and by. 
Do you not see how it is, Harold? My purse is 
almost empty and the harvest a long way off, 
so it behooves us to lose no golden opportunities,” 
she continued, gravely and sorrowfully. 

If it could have changed things in the least. 


242 Triumphs and Failures. 

Harold could have fallen upon the neck of his 
poor, troubled mother and wept, so great was 
his sympathy for her as he looked upon her 
snowy hair and anxious brow, but with a strong 
effort he controlled himself and replied: 

^^Yes, mother, I understand it all, and I shall 
do all in my power to assist you. It will be ter- 
rible to have you go out like that, but perhaps it 
will not last longer than a few months.’^ 

thank you, Harold. I am always sure of 
comfort from your kind heart,’^ she said, as she 
left him. 

She entered upon her new duties the follow- 
ing week. Algernon muttered something about 
the disgrace of it when he at last learned of her 
intended project, for no one cared to tell him, 
but he never once offered his services in her stead. 

Mrs. Granville was kept away from home al- 
most all of the time, and the family of children 
left without a guiding hand, soon fell into reck- 
less behavior and bad manners, and worst of all, 
they were growing up in the same idleness that 
had so wrecked the life of their father. 

Algernon was too lazy and careless to even at- 
tempt looking after their welfare, and thus mat- 
ters moved on, month after month, with no 
change for the better. 

Mrs. Granville earned enough money to main- 
tain the family, while poor Harold toiled on, day 
after day, in the hot summer sun, wrestling with 
the task he so little understood. 

They were not rewarded with a bountiful harv- 
est and when the autumn days came, Mrs. Gran- 
ville and Harold were sorely puzzled as to whether 


An Unlooked-for Event. 243 

they would have sufficient for their support dur- 
ing the winter months. 

Algernon never discussed anything with either 
of them, because he did not choose to work and 
that was his only alternative, unless he just sat 
down and depended upon his mother and Harold 
for his support. He choose the latter, so no one 
cared to consult with him after they had learned 
that he would not share their burdens. 

He rode about in a very lordly fashion upon his 
fine saddler, which his mother had managed to 
save from her wrecked fortune, while she and 
Harold toiled on week after week and month after 
month, for his and his family’s support. 

True, by this time, Mrs. Granville had begun 
to gather round her the means of a more com^ 
fortable living than had been their portion the 
first year of their life upon the new ranch, but 
it was only bare comfort and she, who for so 
many years had had thousands at her command, 
desired more than this, and she worked as zeal- 
ously as she had in her younger days. 

All at once Algernon seemed more spirited and 
talkative than he had ever been since upon that 
occasion when his mother had requested him to 
accept employment and he had so loftily refused. 

This great change in him could not be lost 
upon the family, more especially his mother and 
Harold, for they understood so well why he had 
become so morose and silent. 

^^What has made such a change in Algernon, 
Harold? Do you have any idea?” Mrs. Granville 
inquired one day. 

^There is a great change in him, I know, 


244 Triumphs and Failures. 

mother, but I can only conjecture/^ replied Har- 
old. 

^‘Well, what do you think it can be?’’ she 
continued. 

have taken notice that he visits the Mor- 
rison ranch quite frequently, but I do not pre- 
sume to say what the attraction may be. I can 
tell you, mother, what I think it is. I believe 
that a woman is responsible for this change in him, 
and that that woman is at the ranch,” replied 
Harold. 

^^God forbid that any man as idle and shift- 
less as Algernon Forresman should ever get the 
idea of matrimony into his head again !” cried 
Mrs. Granville, raising her eyes and hands to- 
ward Heaven, as if supplicating divine protection 
against this terrible calamity upon her, where she 
so surely knew it must fail, if ever her unworthy 
son should commit such a deplorable deed. 

Just a few days after this conversation between 
Mrs. Granville and Harold, Algernon, who was 
so talkative and high-spirited as to really disgust 
his mother, said to her: ^^Mother, what would 
you say if your son should whisper in your ear 
that he is in love?” 

^^My ^son^ in 'love' T scornfully repeated Mrs. 
Granville, as she conveyed with her eyes all that 
her lips failed to express. 

‘‘Yes, mother, dear,” continued the exasperat- 
ing Algernon, “I am really in love with a dark- 
eyed beauty ! I am quite sure that you would 
like her very much as your daughter.” 

“Algernon Forresman, I do actually believe you 
to be insane ! You, who are nothing more than 


An Unlooked-for Event. 245 

a beggar, a pauper, dependent wholly upon your 
old mother for the support of yourself and fam- 
ily, to even entertain the thought of bringing in- 
creased care upon me! It is all that I can do 
to keep the wolf from our door now, and were it 
not for the aid that Harold gives me, I am sure 
I would fail I” indignantly replied his mother. 

Algernon was now very angry because his 
mother had so trampled upon and outraged his 
urbanity, and replied, “Why, mother, I never 
heard you talk so indecorous in my life ! It is 
shameful to be so insulted!’^ 

‘'You may call it hndecorous,’ if you like, but 
I call it plain, unvarnished truth Y she vehe- 
mently replied. 

Algernon sat silent for a few moment until his 
anger was somewhat abated, then said, “So, 
mother, you think me insane, just because I hap- 
pen to fancy a pretty girl ?” 

^TTes, or even worse, if I would allow myself 
to divulge all my thoughts,” she replied. 

“Well, mother, I do not see what I am to do. 
I have already promised to make her my wife, 
and I do not see my way out if you are going 
to oppose me like that,” whined the soft wretch. 

“Algernon Forresman 1” exclaimed Mrs. Gran- 
ville, rising and pointing her finger at him, as 
if to convey greater force with her words, and 
her eyes gleamed with indignation, “if you marry 
that girl or any other woman, 3 mu shall that same 
day depart from my house, never again to return ! 
I will not burden my life with the care of an- 
other family for you and vindicate you in your 
idleness and pride ! Do you understand f You 


246 Triumphs and Failures. 

are no longer son of mine if you dare disobey in 
this 

Algernon sat utterly dumbfounded by this un- 
expected turn of his mother’s and did not recover 
himself until after she had left him in her right- 
eous anger. 

^^Why, I never saw mother so beside herself ! 
I do not believe that she realized what she was 
saying. Pshaw! Turn me out of doors so long 
as she had shelter? To be sure, she will not! I 
know that she is always firm with everybody else, 
but she always allowed me to have my own way, 
and she will get over it when she sees no alterna- 
tive,” he soliloquized as he sat alone. 

"I love my pretty, dark-eyed Egipt too well 
to give her up and I will risk a reconciliation with 
mother,” his thoughts ran on. ^^But I will not 
mention the matter to her again, for I hate such 
scenes as the one that just occurred.” 

The days passed by and Algernon did not 
speak of his love affair again and his mother came 
to the happy conclusion that he had abandoned 
the idea of marriage altogether, but a few days 
later she discovered her mistake. 

While Mrs. Granville was thus consoling her- 
self, things over at the ranch where the dark-eyed 
Egipt dwelt wore an aspect entirely foreign to 
the thoughts of Mrs. Granville. 

Preparations were in progress for a wedding — 
a very, very quiet wedding, for Algernon Forres- 
man did not care to have the holy wrath of his 
mother again descend upon his contemptible head, 
therefore, he cautioned his betrothed to be quiet 
if she would have things go smoothly. 


An Unlooked-for Event. 247 

Everything in readiness, the ceremony was per- 
formed, and Algernon Forresman and Egiptia 
Morrison became man and wife. 

Egiptia Morrison was a beautiful young girl 
of eighteen, as dark as her name implies, arro- 
gant, insolent, self-important, and altogether a 
very indecorous young lady, when her direful 
wrath was aroused (which was very easily done), 
but she could be very considerate and refined un- 
til she was sure her points of conquest were 
gained, for she surely possessed accomplishments 
if she did rarely make use of them. 

So with rare winning grace she passed over the 
objection made by Mrs. Granville (that is to all 
outward appearance), but her heart was fairly 
burning with rage and hatred toward the ^^old 
woman who dared oppose her,” and she was se- 
cretly vowing in her own mind of how she would 
get even with the ^^old wretch” when she once 
nad Algernon Forresman safe in tow. 

Such was the condition of affairs when Egiptia 
Morrison went into the family. 

After the ceremony had been performed it was 
suggested by someone that the guests should 
spend the coming evening in an old-time country 
dance, which was heartily applauded by all. 

^^Well,” said the happy groom (for doubtless 
he was happy), ^fif you are going to spend the 
evening in such mirth I shall send for the chil- 
dren.” 

'^Oh, do send for them,” said the bride, who was 
very anxious that Mrs. Granville should be noti- 
fied of her (the bride’s) victory over Algernon, 
as expeditiously as possible. 


248 Triumphs and Failures. 

So it was decided that a man with a two-seated 
carriage should be despatched at once. Just be- 
fore the carriage left Mrs. Egiptia said to her 
husband in her artful, cunning way, ^‘^Dearest, I 
hope you have extended the invitation to our dear 
mama 

Algernon was somewhat disconcerted at this 
remark and could not readily form a reply, but 
the seeming earnestness of her voice reassured 
him, and he replied: 

‘^Why, my Egipt, I never thought of it, and 
really I do not believe she would come, although 
it could do no harm to invite her.” 

Egipt, who was only too anxious to flaunt the 
hated news into the face of Mrs. Granville, re- 
plied in a subtle manner: 

^^Certainly, my dear, it can do no harm, and 
will perhaps soften her dear, kind heart toward 
her naughty children.” 

Algernon was won and he extended the invita- 
tion to his mother and the man left on his mis- 
sion. 

Algernon had left home early in the morn- 
ing but no one took any notice of it, for it was 
nothing aside from the ordinary, consequently 
the family thought nothing of it until the mes- 
senger arrived bearing a letter for Mrs. Granville. 

^‘^Why,” she said, looking at the handsome 
chirography on the envelope, ^flhis is from Alger- 
non ! I wonder what it can be ?” and she broke 
the seal and read it. 

When she had finished she walked nervously up 
and down the floor for several moments, while 
the cold perspiration stood out upon her brow in 


An Unlooked-for Event. 249 

gi’eat beads. And who would attempt to describe 
the an^ish of that poor, tried heart. 

When she could again trust herself to speak, 
she turned to her granddaughter and said, ^^Grace, 
my son is deadT 

“Oh, grandma, papa is not dead! Su-ely, he 
cannot be!” cried the girl in alarm, for she did 
not understand the word “dead” as applying to 
anything in a material way. 

“Yes, daughter, your papa has married Egiptia 
Morrison, and he is forever to me! I, this 
day, renounce him forever!” replied Mrs. Gran- 
ville in a manner that was characteristic only of 
herself. 

“Papa married !” cried poor Grace. “And to 
Egipt Morrison ! Why, grandma, that is almost 
as bad as Lenna did,” she added in a way of com- 
parison. 

“This letter audaciously invites myself and 
family to the dance, which is to be given in honor 
of the occasion. Do you wish to go, Grace ?” 
she inquired, turning to her granddaughter. 

“Oh, I would not like to go to that! If it were 
anything else but upon the occasion of papa’s 
wedding, I should like it, but I do not wish to 
attend that!"" replied Grace very earnestly. 

Mrs. Granville wrote a very polite “regret,” 
and placed it in the hands of the man who had 
come for them. She bade him deliver it to Al- 
gernon and further explained to him that they 
could not accompany him, which was a signal for 
him to depart. 

“Harold, you are my only child now. You 
alone are deserving of my love, for it is you that 


250 Triumphs and Failures. 

always brings comfort when my spirit sorrows 
' and balm when my heart is sore, and it is ’you, 
my son, who shall reap all reward that I shall 
ever have to bestow,” she said to Harold, when she 
had explained all that had happened. 

Harold sat silent, for he was too full for words. 
Anger, just as the verdict of Heaven, and pride 
too deeply wounded for healing had welled up 
within his manly bosom until there was no room 
for words. 

^'Mother,” he said at last, ^^if he were not your 
own son — ^}^our own hlood, I should cast the curse 
of hell upon him, for he richly deserves it ! But 
I will never execrate your blood, let them be ever 
so deserving.” 

^^He would receive only a righteous reward, 
Harold, were you to do as you say. But even 
though he is of my own Hood, he is no longer 
my son. I have this day renounced him forever,” 
replied Mrs. Granville. 

Poor Harold, after he had relieved his bitter 
feelings by their expression in words, felt better, 
and this last terrible sentence of his mother’s 
shocked him. 

‘‘Why, mother, you have not discarded him, hav(' 
you?” he asked, in surprise. 

“Yes, Harold. Algernon Forresman is dead to 
me in this world ! Henceforth, I have no other son 
than yourself,” she calmly replied. 

“But, mother, what will he do? With himself 
and a wife to support, and no means, and the worst 
of all, no ambition, or management, I do not see 
what he will do, if you really have renounced him !” 


An Unlooked-for Event. 251 

exclaimed Harold, now suddenly interested in what 
the future might be. 

^^He will have to look out for his future him- 
self, Harold ! I will never receive him again,” she 
said. 

Harold was greatly relieved when he heard this 
welcome news, for he had expected to have one 
more in family, for he had his mother to support. 
But he knew that when Mrs. Granville stated that 
she had ''renounced” her son, that she would be im- 
movable, and he would be relieved of the burden 
which he had dreaded. 

It was not for several days after his marriage 
that Algernon Forresman dared seek an interview 
with his mother, for he shrunk from the wrath 
which he knew was so just, and which he felt 
quite sure would be cast upon his erring head by 
this outraged woman. 

Nevertheless, as soon as he could muster cour- 
age for the undertaking, he kissed his bride, telling 
her as he did so, that he was going to see his 
mother, and that when he returned he would bring 
the welcome news of reconciliation, and rode away. 

" 'Eeconciliation," indeed !” hissed Egipt, 
through her clenched teeth. "Did not my father 
have the farm, where that old imbecile lives, im- 
proved for me ? And am I not its rightful owner ? 
And furthermore, what personal property there is 
in her possession belongs to my husband, and I do 
not propose to lose very much time in a so-called 
'reconciliation,^ now I can tell them ! If the old 
fool (meaning Mrs. Granville) will not listen to 
sensible talk, I will just set her out of there bv 
main force ! I can tell her that she is not dealing 


252 Triumphs and Failures. 

with her soft, babyish son now! She has met her 
match for this once in her life! So there, thafs 
the way of it !” and she stamped her foot in lofty 
conclusion. 

About three years since, when Mrs. Granville 
removed from her old home, where her fortune had 
been so ruthlessly swept away, and the happiness of 
her then peaceful home wrecked, she came to this 
nation and secured a lease upon a fine tract of 
land from one Adolph Morrison, for the term of 
ten years. 

Adolph Morrison was a white man and had mar- 
ried a woman who was removed from the full- 
blood Indian race by about the fourth generation, 
thus making her an eighth-bred Indian. 

Egiptia Morrison was their only daughter, and 
her father, who was very indulgent with his beau- 
tiful, wilful Egipt, had told her that whenever 
the farm which should be improved by Mrs. Gran- 
ville, should have become free from the lease, which 
he had given upon it, she should fall heir to the 
same. 

Egipt did not understand the nature of a lease 
perfectly, and if she had, she would not have wished 
to abide by any law but the law of her own violent 
passions, and she held the erroneous idea that upon 
this ground she could dispossess Mrs. Granville 
any day she chose to do so. 

Algernon Forresman reached the little home 
where dwelt his gray-haired mother, quietly and 
sedately nursing her virtuous anger and wounded 
pride, dismounted and went to the door. 

He stood there a moment, to still the wild tu- 
mult within his breast. Presently he rapped 


An Unlooked-for Event 253 

meekly and gently upon the door, as if afraid a 
lend noise might frighten away his temporary 
courage. Any other time he would have entered 
unbidden, but something held him back — some- 
thing that made him feel as if he were a stranger 
there, and must not intrude. 

Mrs. Granville heard the gentle rap upon the 
door, and proceeded herself to answer the summons, 
although at any other time Grace perhaps would 
have been sent, but she went through intuition 
alone. 

She opened the door, and there before her stood 
a tall, handsome man, with uncovered head, look- 
ing very, very subdued and altogether penitent. 

^^Good-morning, mother,’^ he said, politely, and 
with great warmth, when she did not address him. 

^‘This is Mr. Forresman, I believe V’ said Mrs. 
Granville, with as much indifference and frigid 
dignity as if she were really uncertain as to his 
identity, and felt just a little piqued at being so 
imposed upon by one whom she scarcely recognized. 

Algernon was almost petrified by this quiet, 
frozen air of his mother, and all hope died within 
him as he read the fixed determination upon her 
furrowed brow. For had he not seen that very 
expression upon her face, and the same steady gaze 
from those eyes in other times when they were 
more beautiful to look upon than now? And had 
he not, when reading the fathomless depths of 
those expressions, wondered many times when his 
mother was the fairest, when she smiled or when 
she was serious? 

"^Yes, mother, Algernon, your son," he replied, 
in a choked voice. 


254 Triumphs and Failures. 

"Mrs. Granville, if you please, Mr. Forresman V* 
icily corrected the lady. 

"Are you not going to invite me in, Mrs. Gran- 
ville?^^ inquired Algernon, with a faint smile, 
thinking that perhaps to follow her suggestion 
might soften her. 

"If you have any important business with me, I 
should like very much to hear it, for I have no time 
to lose in this manner,” she coldly replied, still 
standing in the doorway, with her hand upon the 
door. 

^^ill you please grant me an interview of a few 
moments?” he earnestly entreated. 

''You are wasting time, and I am impatient! 
Whatever you could possibly have to say to me can 
be said in a few words, standing where you are ! 
And now I must hear it at once, else I shall close 
the door and resume my work,” she replied, in a 
voice of command, which he quickly understood. 

"Well — well — mother — Mrs. Granville, I mean, 
I came over to ascertain if you would receive my 
wife and myself. I wish to come home ” 

^TVIr. Forresman, my verdict was given before 
your marriage, and I had sincerely hoped that you 
would never make it necessary for me to repeat it ! 
But since you insist upon a renewal of my vows, I 
will now repeat, that you are forever dead to me 
— ^that henceforth in this life, our paths must lie 
apart, and under no conditions whatever can my 
mind be changed ! You are no son of mine, and 
I am your mother in name only.” 

And with these words she closed the door of her 
humble home, and likewise the door of her heart 
closed, never again to open with love and affection 


An Unlooked-for Event. 255 

to the one living sonl upon this earth who had 
hitherto been the one central object of her am- 
bitions pride, and her lips were sealed, never to 
ntter his name again. 

“Oh, mother, mother, yon will not, yon mnst not 
drive me from yon! Forgive me and let me be 
yonr son again I” he cried, in despair, when his 
mother closed the door npon him. Bnt his cries 
were not heard by the deaf ear of the wronged 
woman, and she heeded him not. 


256 Triumphs and Failures. 


CHAPTEE XXIV. 

A FIENDISH ASSAULT. 

There was no alternative but for Algernon For- 
resman to return to his bride empty-handed and 
friendless, and it was with the blackness of despair 
that he mounted his horse and rode away. Away 
from the one who had shared all his joys and sor- 
rows — away from her who had taken upon her own 
shoulders all his burdens of life, while he sat idly 
looking on — away from the one who had a second 
time renounced him, and turned him out upon the 
cold, hard world, alone, friendless and penniless, 
to succeed or perish as he would. 

He had consoled himself with the belief that 
when his mother saw the inevitable, she would be 
very considerate, forgive him, take him back to 
her arms and care, and he could still live on in 
idleness and ease. It had never occurred to him 
that this woman would really and truly discard 
her only child. He thought that her words were 
only spoken to turn him from his object, and that 
he could reconcile her as easily as he had done 
many times in the past, but he had learned the 
truth now, that it was too late. 

When he again entered the presence of his bride 
he looked so haggard and worn that she exclaimed 


A Fiendish Assault. 


257 


in surprise, “Why, Algernon, what has happened 
to yon ? Have yon had a quarrel with your 
mother T’ 

“Oh, Gipsy, mother has disclaimed me forever! 
I knew that she would be angry^ but I never 
thought she would be so unrelenting. Oh, Gipsy, 
I cannot live without dear old mother, I cannot 
he cried, in passionate grief. 

Any other bride of a week would have pitied his 
sore distress, but not so with Mrs. Gipsy. She 
hated Mrs. Granville from the bottom of her evil 
heart, and the weakness which her husband por- 
trayed only aroused her anger. For she feigned to 
believe that all the property at the ranch belonged 
to him (and the ranch itself belonged to herself), 
and that Mrs. Granville only made it her home 
purposely to care for the children, and she blamed 
her husband greatly for not raising his voice in 
protest against the actions of his unreasonable 
mother. 

“Algernon, I really think you very foolish to 
allow such trifles to worry you in this manner. I 
think, instead of your mother discarding you, you 
had best repudiate her, and also that young, prig- 
gish Harold Le Barre,^’ she replied, in a voice as 
quiet as she could command. 

“Gipsy, my dear, you do not understand! You 
do not realize ” 

^TTes, I do understand a great deal better than 
you think,’"’ she replied, playfully placing her 
hand over his mouth, while she inwardly raved at 
the bare idea of being so opposed by an “old 
woman.” 

^TTou see, my husband, you have always spoiled 


258 Triumphs and Failures. 

your motlier to extremes, and it will take a great 
deal of firmness to amicably settle this controversy 
with her. I feel that she being your mother, and 
considering the fact that you have always been so 
lenient with her in the past, that you are unequal 
to the task. So there is no alternative but to leave 
the matter with me. 1 am quite sure that 1 will 
soon set things going in the right direction,’^ she 
added, with affected gentleness. 

^‘^Gipsy, you do not know my mother as I do, 
else you would understand that firmness would not 
move her any more than it could remove moun- 
tains. And, further, you do not understand that 
my mother has always supported ’’ 

^^You misunderstand me, my husband,^’ replied 
Gipsy, interrupting him. “I mean to be firm in 
what we expect of her ! If you will only continue 
with a firmness of purpose, you, in time will effect 
the desired reconciliation, but if you give up try- 
ing, she will never come to us, that is quite cer- 
tain ! So leave it all with me, and I will assure you 
that I can bring about the desired result.’^ 

You are right, my love! I did not think of it 
in that way. It is worth a great deal to possess the 
firmness of character of my dark-eyed Gipsy,” he 
said, kissing her in his infinite relief, when the op- 
portunity presented itself to cast his burdens upon 
the shoulders of anpther. 

Ah, had he only dreamed of the purport of the 
last sentence uttered by his bride his blood would 
have curdled in his veins with horror 1 But his 
shallow mind was too much absorbed in the thought 
of being relieved from any further cares to even 
suspect what that ‘desired result” might be. 


A Fiendish Assault. 


-59 

'"Yes, Gipsy, I will leave it all with you, for I 
am quite sure that you can manage mother, if any- 
one can,"' he continued. 

"I thank you, Algernon, for your confidence in 
me. I am very certain that I can mafiage her,"’ 
with only a slight stress upon "manage,"" 'for this 
designing woman did not wish to have her husband 
know just at present her intended methods of man- 
agement. 

When Egiptia Forresman was again alone, she 
sat and studied long and earnestly over the task be- 
fore her. 

"Yes, I purpose to have that property, whether I 
have any legal rights to it or not ! I will see to it 
that that old woman moves out at once, and if she 
dares oppose me, I will lash her until she will be 
glad to move out of my reach ! I did not marry 
that soft son of hers to live a pauper, and I will 
not do it ! No, never! If anyone lives upon bounty, 
it shall be she, not I !"" she hissed through her 
clenched teeth. 

That afternoon Egipt requested to have her 
horse saddled and brought round, which was soon 
done. 

"Where are you going, Gipsy?"" inquired her 
husband, as he assisted her to mount. "Could I 
not accompany you?"" 

"No, Algernon, I prefer to go alone. I am just 
going over to seek an interview with your mother, 
and it is best that I should be alone. I think I 
shall bring Don, that beautiful saddler, over for 
my own use, until we can remove home,"" she re- 
plied, with an air of audacious authority that al- 
most shocked Algernon. 


26o Triumphs and Failures. 

‘^1 fear — that — that — mother — will not be will- 
ing to part with — with Don, for he has been her 
companion for years/^ he weakly replied. 

^^Oh, yes, she will be perfectly willing that 1 
should have him ironically replied Egipt, as she 
rode away. 

The shallow brain of Algernon Forresman could 
not long dwell upon any subject, consequently 
Egipt had not been absent an hour until all his 
misgivings had fled, and when he thought of her 
mission at all, it was with a certainty that his 
wife would ^^manage mother,^^ and that was all he 
desired. 

Mrs. Egiptia Forresman rode up to the home of 
Mrs. Granville, dismounted, and walked to the 
door with the air of a queen. 

She gave a loud, imperious rap upon the door, 
very^ very different in its meaning to the one de- 
livered upon that same door by her husband in the 
early morning. 

She was met by Mrs. Granville, however, in the 
same quiet, dignified manner as had been Alger- 
non Forresman, regardless of the significant rap 
which she gave. 

^^Godd-afternoon, Madam Granville!^’ said Mrs. 
Egipt, in a haughty voice. 

Mrs. Granville returned the time of day, still 
maintaining her air of frozen dignity. 

have come here. Madam Granville, to learn 
what terms might be made with you, since you so 
loftily refused audience to my husband this morn- 
ing,” continued Egipt, in the same haughty, com- 
manding voice. 


A Fiendish Assault. 261 

‘‘To make terms with me, madam inquired 
Mrs. Granville. 

“Yes, Madam Granville, to make terms with 
you! Or rather, to inform you what shall be ex- 
pected of you!’’ replied the angry Egipt. 

“There can be nothing whatever expected of 
me now, my dear lady, and I would greatly prefer 
not to have this subject brought to my notice 
again,” replied Mrs. Granville, in clear, firm tones, 
as she attempted to close the door. 

“You shall hear me through !” angrily cried 
Egipt, pushing the door open again, but still re- 
maining on the outside. 

“I came here. Madam Granville, to order you 
to vacate these premises at once, in order that I, 
its rightful owner, and my husband, may have im- 
mediate possession of it for our home !” she said. 
“You have so loftily refused to consider your 
son^s rights, now I shall not respect your feelings 
in any degree whatever ! I now say for you to va- 
cate at once, which I swear you shall do!” she 
continued. 

Mrs. Granville had stood motionless with amaze- 
ment at this astounding command, but when the 
speaker had concluded she replied: 

“Vacate my own premises to make room for 
you? You are certainly mad! No, I will vacate 
my home for no one, very much less an arrogant 
usurper like yourself !” 

“One thing more,” almost screamed the en- 
raged Egipt. “I intend, this afternoon, to take 
Don, the saddler, home with me, for my own use 
until I shall have removed to this place, for I do 


262 Triumphs and Failures. 

not wish to have my husband’s horse used longer 

Qot for a moment allow you to take my 
horse/^ calmly replied Mrs. Granville, which only 
enraged Mrs. Egipt all the more. 

^^ou shall see whether or not I take him ! And 
I will give you just one more warning, you must 
vacate to-morrow, else I shall set you out by force,” 
she replied, as she turned her steps toward the 
barn. 

Mrs. Granville, still as calm and unruffled as a 
summer evening, deliberately followed her, and 
took her station at the door, where Egipt had en- 
tered. 

Presently she appeared at the door leading the 
horse, and as she came out Mrs. Granville seized 
the bridle and held it fast. 

^^Mrs. Forresman, you have come here on a very, 
very foolish errand, indeed ! I think you had best 
let cool judgment rule, and return to your home as 
you came. You cannot take my horse, neither can 
you take anything else, so you had best go quietly 
home and let this be your last attempt at usurping 
the rights of others,” said Mrs. Granville, quietly, 
but firmly. 

"You old she-devil, I tell you to turn that rein 
loose !” screamed Egipt, in her frantic rage, as she 
struggled to free the reins from the firm hold of 
her antagonist. 

She struggled and strove until she became con- 
vinced that it was a hopeless task, and she herself 
turned the rein loose, then turning the large riding 
quirt which she held in her hand, struck Mrs. 
Granville a terrific blow upon the head with the 


by yourself, 
could ] 


A Fiendish Assault. 263 

heavy loaded end, which felled her to her knees. 

She then deliberately turned the whip again and 
poured lash after lash upon the back and across 
the shoulders of the fallen woman. 

Mrs. Granville uttered no sound, neither did she 
faint, although the blood was flowing freely from 
the ugly wound made by the deadly weapon, but 
clung tenaciously to the bridle rein. 

Harold, who was employed just at the rear of 
the barn, heard the ^heavy blows and ran to dis- 
cover whence they came. 

What a sight met his eyes ! There before him 
upon her knees, and unable to rise for the heavy 
bldws which were being cast upon her, and bend- 
ing over her, a woman who looked more like an en- 
raged lioness than a human being, pouring thick 
and fast heavy lashes upon the almost prostrate 
form, was his mother. 

Like a madman Harold sprang forward. 

^Tf you strike my mother again I will kill you, 
you accursed flend,^^ he cried, as he seized hold of 
her assailant with no gentle hand. 

Egipt shrank back in horror, for she really be- 
lieved that he meant to slay her without further 
provocation. 

‘^hat does this mean, dear mother?^’ inquired 
Harold, as he tenderly lifted the wounded and 
bleeding woman to her feet. 

^^Mrs. Forresman came here and ordered us to 
vacate the premises at once that she herself might 
take possession. She has also attempted to take 
away my horse, and I refused to let him go,'"* she 
replied faintly. 

^'Egipt Forresman,’’ said Harold, turning his 


264 Triumphs and Failures. 

t^rathful eyes upon the cowering figure of the now 
thoroughly alarmed Egipt, ^'you mount your horse 
and leave this place at once/^ 

Egipt did not need a second command, for she 
had already begun to realize the precariousness of 
her situation, and she hastily mounted her horse 
and rode away. 

Harold assisted the bruised and bleeding woman 
to the house, and sum^moned medical aid. 

She was put to bed and attended as best they 
could by the sweet, gentle hands of Grace, and the 
faithful Sarah, who could always be found at her 
post of duty. 

‘^My poor, dear mistress has had lots 0’ ups and 
downs in her life, but this is the worst ’n of all,’’ 
declared Sarah, wiping the tears from her indig- 
nant eyes. 

^^Oh, Harold, will they do anything with papa 
about this awful affair ?” anxiously inquired Grace, 
for worthless as she knew him to be, she loved him. 

^^Ho, Grace, the most that your father will have 
to bear will be the terrible disgrace of it,” kindly 
replied Harold, for he pitied her sore distress. 

' Mrs. Granville soon fell into a troubled sleep, 
only to awaken in a short time with the light of 
reason gone from her brilliant eyes, and her mind 
wandering upon other subjects entirely foreign to 
her present surroundings. 

The physician came and examined the wound, 
and when he learned with what weapon it had been 
inflicted, he shook his head doubtfully. 

^^The wound is a deep one, and having been in- 
flicted by a weapon so heavy and blunt, the bruise 
must necessarily be very deep, and there is a grave 


A Fiendish Assault. 265 

doubt in my mind as to her ultimate mental re- 
covery, although physically I have every hope,"" he 
replied, to the anxious inquiries of Harold. 

‘^^Ho other 'woman could have borne up under 
such oppressive mental trials as mother has had 
forced upon her, and I fear that this will be the 
climax of them all,"" he said, in a troubled voice, 
as he paced the floor of the little room. 

When the wound had been dressed by the phy- 
sician, the patient again fell into a sleep which 
was more natural than before. When she awoke 
again after a fe'v^^ hours, she looked about her in a 
dazed, cold way, that was evidence that her reason 
had not yet returned. 

Harold bent over her and spoke kind and loving 
words, while he forced back the tears that would 
fill his manly eyes. But she only replied in a 
vague, uncertain way, always upon some subject 
that he had not mentioned. 

The physician remained until morning, then 
left his pa-tient in the kind care of those who loved 
her. 

Harold had been very cool and considerate un- 
der such extraordinary circumstances, and had, 
when sending for the physician, notified the officers 
of the assault made upon the person of his mother, 
and those men lost no time in the performance of 
the task before them. 

They accompanied the physician to the home of 
Mrs. Granville, where they learned the nature of 
the case, and secured such evidence from Harold as 
would warrant the arrest of the assailant. They 
then proceeded in search of her. 

Egiptia, after leaving the scene of her crime in 


266 Triumphs and Failures. 

Buch hot haste, rode home as fast as her horse could 
carry her, for she was now very much frightened, 
since she was convinced that she had really com- 
mitted a crime, and might expect at any moment to 
be taken into custody. 

Up to this moment she had treated the idea of 
lashing her husband’s mother as her own special 
privilege, tow^ard any woman who dared oppose 
her, and to satisfy a caprice of her unnatural tem- 
per. She had not considered that it could be any- 
thing more than a family affair, and if she suc- 
ceeded in administering the lash in the proper man- 
ner that she, Mrs. Egiptia Forresman, would in the 
future be recognized by all parties concerned as 
mistress of the household, and there would be an 
end to it. 

She tried very, very hard to think of some way 
out of the web of difficulties that had suddenly sur- 
rounded her, but the more she thought of it the 
more serious it became, and when she at last 
reached her home she was as yet very undecided. 

As Egipt began nearing her home her heart al- 
most sank within her. The terrible frenzy of 
which she had so lately been the victim had sub- 
sided, and was now supplanted by cowardly fear — 
fear because she knew that she was in the wrong in 
every instance, and fear of the just retribution 
which she believed must follow her foolish actions. 

^^Dare I tell Algernon ?” she said to herself, 
shuddering as she thought of it. “Dare I tell him 
that I have really struck his aged mother down? 
And yet he must know it sooner or later, but it 
would kill me to tell him the bare truth! No, I 
cannot tell him as it is. I will cast all the blame 


A Fiendish Assault. 267 

upon her, and he will believe me.” And with this 
hasty conclusion, and with a powerful effort at self- 
control, she entered the house and the presence of 
Algernon Forresman. 

^‘^Why, Gipsy, my love, you look pale ! A^ou have 
been riding too fast,” exclaimed her husband, as 
he caught sight of the pale face and bloodless lips 
of his bride. 

^^Yes, Algernon, I have ridden fast, but that is 
not all the trouble,” she replied, with a faint smile. 

^^Why, did you have an accident ?” he further in- 
quired. 

^^Yes, I had an accident. A very, very grave ac- 
cident,” she replied. And while her gray-haired 
victim lay tossing and moaning with the painful 
wounds which had been so fiendishly inflicted upon 
her, the black-hearted assailant poured forth to her 
attentive listener countless lies, as malicious and 
wilful in their nature, concerning the difficulty 
between herself and the victim, as ever came from 
the lips of woman. In every instance she placed 
Mrs. Granville as the aggressor, and shielded her- 
self by the plea of self-defense. She also carefully 
avoided giving the real extent of Mrs. Granville^ 
injuries. 

This tale was very weak in all its points, so 
hastily had it been constructed, but it sufficed to 
turn the mind of Algernon Forresman in the di- 
rection desired. 

When she had finished he said : “I am very sorry 
that this little altercation should end thus seri- 
ously, but I suppose there was no other way out of 
it, Gipsy, dear!” 


268 Triumphs and Failures. 

"No other way, I assure you, my husband,” de- 
clared that audacious woman. 

"But I fear that I may have a little further 
trouble, and I wish to go away for to-night,” she 
added. 

"Oh, you need not fear, my dearest, for mother 
is too proud to molest you here,” replied Algernon, 
misconstruing her meaning. 

This afforded a new idea, and Egipt eagerly 
grasped it. Her husband believed that she wished 
to go away from the fear of being molested by the 
so-called aggressive mother, and she would not un- 
deceive him. For she shrank from telling him 
that she was in actual fear of the officers of the 
law. 

^TTou cannot tell what a woman like your mother 
may do. I believe that it will be best for me to go 
away until her wrath subsides,” she artfully re- 
plied. 

"It can do no harm, and if you really wish it, 
why we will go,” he replied, for he really believed 
every word that she uttered. 

Half an hour later the bride and groom rode 
aVay without a word of information to anyone. 


Egiptla’s Reward. 


269 


CHAPTER XXV. 

EGIPTIA^S REWARD. 

The two officers reached the home of Adolph 
Morrison about daybreak the following morning, 
and soon had the whole household astir. 

Mr. Morrison proceeded to meet them, wonder- 
ing all the while what they, could possibly want 
there. 

^^e are here in search of one, Mrs. Egiptia For- 
resman,^^ the officer explained, as the old gentleman 
approached them. 

^^You are certainly mistaken in the name, my 
good man. Mrs. Forresman is my daughter, and 
you cannot possibly be in search of her,” replied 
the father, emphatically. 

^^Mrs. Egiptia Forresman, wife of Algernon For- 
resman, is the lady in question,” replied the officer, 
impatiently. 

^^hy, what can you possibly want of her? She 
has committed no crime,” firmly insisted the father. 

The officer smiled at these words, for had he not 
seen with his own eyes the pitiable sight of the 
wounded and bleeding victim, with her reason tem- 
porarily, if not permanently, deranged, and her life 
hanging as it were upon a mere thread, which 
might at any moment be broken, and thus place 


270 Triumphs and Failures. 

the life-blood of a human being upon the hands of 
this woman ? 

“We have no time to waste, Mr. Morrison. May 
I ask if your daughter is in this house or about 
the premises continued the officer. 

“No, my daughter is not here. I do not know 
where she is at present. She went away without 
informing anyone of where she was going,” truth- 
fully replied the old gentleman. 

“But I should like very much to know why you 
seek her,^’ he added. 

“The charge is assault. And from the appear- 
ance of her victim, it may be something worse,” 
replied the officer, in a heartless manner. 

“Assault! Assault! Why, whom did she as- 
sault?” exclaimed the horrified father. 

“Mrs. Salenna Granville,” he coolly replied. 

Mr. Morrison was now too terrified to speak, and 
he slowly paced up and down the walk, until he was 
again addressed by the officer. 

“Well, Mr. Morrison, you know that it is our 
duty to make a thorough search of your premises, 
although we do not doubt your statement in the 
least.” 

“I understand,” replied the father, tremblingly. 
‘TTou are at liberty.” 

The officers gave a thorough search, and after 
becoming convinced that the old gentleman had 
spoken the truth, they rode away in the direction 
of a place where Harold had informed them they 
might find her, had she left her father^s house. 

“Algernon Forresman has no money, neither has 
his wife, consequently she will be compelled to lodge 
among her relatives or intimate friends, and you 


Egiptia’s Reward. 271 

cannot fail to find her/^ Harold had explained to 
the officers. 

When Algernon Forresman and his bride left the 
home of Mr. Morrison they, at Egipt’s suggestion, 
proceeded to the home of a distant relative, who at 
any other time she would have scorned, but now she 
was only too glad to seek shelter under his poor 
roof. 

^AVhy on earth are you going there, Gipsy ?” in- 
quired Algernon, as they rode along. 

Upon the first impulse Egipt was on the verge 
of confessing her fears to her husband, but she still 
had a slight hope that he would never know all, 
anyway, and she sealed her lips in silence upon the 
dreaded subject, and replied lightly: 

‘'Uh, it is just a whim of mine.’' 

It was sunset when they reached the home of her 
relative, and they were graciously received by him. 

^W^ell, there’s a mystery in this visit, for Gipsy 
was always too proud to come here before. And 
then look at that husband of hers! Why, he’s a 
real dude. But bein’ as they’re here, will do the 
best we can by them,” declared the puzzled cousin 
to his wife, when they were alone. 

On the following day they had the mystery ex- 
plained to them by the arrival of two officers in 
search of the very person now lodged in their 
house. 

When Egipt saw the officers dismounting in front 
of the door she became frantic with fear. “Oh, Al- 
gernon, my husband, save me, save me! Oh, take 
me away ! They will take me, and then what will 
I do ? Oh, save me if you can, Algernon !” she 
cried, and then fainted in his arms. 


272 Triumphs and Failures. 

Algernon had not noticed the arrival of the offi- 
cers, and he was so astonished at his wife’s peculiar 
behavior that he was unable to speak. 

The officer stood and looked at the scene before 
him, and coolly contrasted it in his own mind 
with the one he had looked upon only last night 
at the home of Mrs. Granville, and he felt no com- 
passion for this woman before him. Had he not 
been an eye-witness of the other spectacle, so pite- 
ous to behold, he would have been almost melted 
to tears at the sight of this beautiful and terrified 
woman. 

They laid her prostrate form upon the bed, and 
after a few moments she opened her eyes and looked 
around her. When she saw the officer standing at 
the other side of the room she shrieked and almost 
fainted again. 

^^What does all this mean?” inquired Algernon, 
who had not as yet comprehended why the pres- 
ence of the officer should so affect his wife. 

Ht means,” said the officer, stepping forward 
and producing a large, legal-looking document, 
‘That I have here a writ for the arrest of one, 
Egiptia Forresman, wife of Algernon Forresman, 
for an assault upon the person of one, Mrs. Salenna 
Granville,” and he read the warrant to his spell- 
bound audience. 

Egipt clung to her husband during the reading, 
as if pleading for protection, but it was beyond the 
power of any one to protect her now, and she must 
submit to the consequences of her own folly. 

“Oh, Algernon, have you no word of comfort for 
me?” she said, in a hoarse whisper, when the offi- 
cer had finished, and she knew the worst. 


Egiptia’s Reward. 273 

^There are no words which I could utter that 
would give 3^ou consolation, for I am sorely dis- 
tressed,^^ he replied, very seriously, and sadly turned 
away. 

The officers took charge of their prisoner, allow- 
ing her husband to accompany her, and drove to 
the home of Mr. Morrison. Her father accom- 
panied his daughter to F where she was lodged 

in jail, to await trial. 

Algernon learned from the officers the extent of 
his mothers injuries, and he took a passionless, 
contemptuous leave of his wretched bride at her 
father’s house, and went straightway to the home of 
the one, whom he now realized, had been so deeply 
wronged. 

But when he reached there he was met at the 
door by the physician, who said: ^^No, Mr. Forres- 
man, not under any pretext whatever could you 
be allowed to see your mother. She is now hover- 
ing between life and death, insanity and reason, 
and anything that would excite her in the least 
might prove fatal to her life or her mind. So I 
advise you to leave here at once, as the house is 
small, and she may become aware of your pres- 
ence.” 

Algernon knew by the stern, rigid manner of 
the physician that he understood all, and that he 
himself was not held in very high esteem by that 
gentleman. And, furthermore, he felt that he was 
not welcome in that house, no, not by one of its 
older members; for had he not brought all this 
trouble upon them ? So, for a second time he was 
cast away from that door, friendless and penniless, 
and became what his mother had one time warned 


274 Triumphs and Failures. 

him that he might be, something worse than a 
^^common herder/^ or a ‘^^plodding farmer’^ — ^he be- 
came a wanderer upon the face of the earth, with 
nowhere to lay his weary head. 

The two officers, accompanied by their strange- 
looking prisoner and her aged father, whose gray 
head was bowed down in sorrow and humiliation, 
proceeded to F . 

Egipt Forresman, after she had left her father’s 
house, to meet the terrible fate that awaited her, 
had sealed her lips in silence, never uttering a word 
only when addressed by her father. Then she 
would reply only in monosyllables and broken ac- 
cents. She sat upright in the carriage like a mar- 
ble statue, nursing her own humiliated pride and 
subdued anger. 

When they reached their destination the little 
party proceeded to the jail, and Mr. Morrison, 
with white, set face and trembling hands, assisted 
his daughter to alight, and walked up the stone 
pavement with her leaning heavily upon his arm, 
followed by the two officers. 

The warden appeared, and after having a few 
words of explanation from the officer, bade them 
follow him, and they proceeded down the long cor^ 
ridor. 

It was with great difficulty that the agitated old 
father led his now almost spiritless daughter along, 
for it seemed that when they had entered the great, 
dark, forbidding building, where each stone and 
every bar bespoke of immorality and crime, 
strength and courage had deserted them both. 

The warden stopped in front of a long, bare 


27S 


Egiptia’s Reward. 

cell, unlocked the door and bade them enter. The 
whole terrible truth now dawned upon Egiptia For- 
resman, to its fullest extent, and she clung hope- 
lessly to her father. 

^^Oh, father, you will not leave me here alone? 
You must not ! I cannot bear it ! Oh, you must not 
leave me, father!^’ she cried, with bloodless lips 
and tearless eyes, while she clung to him with an 
iron hand. 

^^Egiptia, my dearest daughter, I will leave you 
only for a short time. I will go and procure a bond 
for you, and will return in a very short time, and 
take you away, and home again,’’ he replied, ten- 
derly and soothingly, as he tried gently to put her 
away from him. 

^^Oh, father, I will die if you leave me here for 
one hour alone. I cannot live in this place, not even 
for one hour, alone ! Oh, do not leave me, father, 
please do not leave me !” she pleaded earnestly, and 
piteously. 

^Tome,” said the warden, who was so accustomed 
to scenes of criminal repentance that he had 
learned to turn a deaf ear to them all, “we can- 
not waste more time. Bid your father good-by, 
for he must retire at once.” 

The heartbroken father tenderly embraced his 
daughter, saying, “I will return within an hour, 
Gipsy, with papers for your release, and we will re- 
turn home. So be quiet and await me patiently.” 
And he kissed her cold lips and left her alone, with 
her horrible despair and dread of the future. 

Mr. Morrison then proceeded to the proper au- 
thorities, and within an hour he had given the re- 
quired bond for her appearance at the next term of 


276 Triumphs and Failures. 

Court, and accompanied by the officer, he returned 
to the jail to secure his daughter’s release. 

When he and the officer entered the cell they 
both shrank back in horror at the sight before them. 
There, crouched in the darkest corner of the musty 
cell, was the once beautiful, contemptuous, self-im- 
portant Egiptia Forresman, tearing her hair and 
gnashing her teeth, while the froth poured from 
her mouth like a maddened animal, with all the 
light of reason gone. She had become a raving 
maniac. 

When the officer attempted to approach her she 
gave an almost unearthly shriek and bounded away 
from him like a frightened deer, and her eyes 
gleamed like living fire. 

Mr. Morrison then approached her and laid his 
hand gently upon her arm, which instantly quieted 
her. He spoke kind words of comfort to her, but 
she understood them not, yet they seemed to soothe 
her troubled spirit, and allay her terrible fear. 

Whenever the officer would move nearer her, she 
would cling to her father as if supplicating his 
protection, and they learned that his presence dis- 
turbed her so much that he left the father alone 
with his raving charge. 

He removed her to the prison hospital until he 
could secure some one to accompany him home, for 
it was impossible for him to go alone with his mad 
daughter. 

At last one was found who was willing to go if 
she could influence the patient. She was of middle 
age, tall and dark, with a very commanding ap- 
pearance, and altogether very much the same type 
of woman as Egiptia’s own mother. 


Egiptia’s Reward. 277 

When she entered the presence of the patient the 
raving woman soon became as gentle and docile as 
a child, and, in fact, she became a child again. 

When they reached home Mrs. Morrison was al- 
most prostrated with grief for several days, but 
she soon rallied and began to assist with the won- 
derful task of caring for the stricken Egipt. 

It was indeed a piteous sight to behold to any- 
one who did not understand the cause, but those 
who did only felt in their own hearts that it was 
a just retribution for her terrible sins. 

Her strength soon began to fail, and a large, 
comfortable wheel chair was procured for her that 
she might have the sunlight and fresh air. She 
never recalled anything of her past life, or seemed 
to remember anything that had ever existed, except 
Algernon Forresman. She had no thought of the 
future only for him. 

She talked of things and played with things as 
any child would do having its first lesson at play. 
And it was only when some one would arrive on 
the scene of her amusement, and she was momen- 
tarily disturbed, that she would look up and in- 
quire in a childish way, ^^Has Algernon come yet ?” 
And when she received a negative reply, she would 
sigh heavily and resume her play. 

Six months later the weary, tired spirit of 
Egiptia Forresman stood before the righteous tri- 
bunal of God, to answer for her sins upon this 
earth, where the verdict would be just, and the 
execution sure. 

Her last words were of the one human being 
whom she had loved in her own wild, passionate 


278 Triumphs and Failures. 

way, and who was not deserving of even Egiptia 
Forresman’s affection. 

"Has Algernon come she said. They answered 
"No,^^ and with a weary sigh she closed her eyes 
and passed into eternal slumber. 


Egiptia’s Reward. 


279 


CHAPTER XXVI. 

FORTUNE SMILES AGAIN. 

It was several weeks before Mrs. Granville was 
able to leave her bed, but with her slowly return- 
ing strength her mind became clearer, and gradu- 
ally the truth of why she was an invalid dawned 
upon her. 

She never mentioned the name of her discarded 
son, and no one ever repeated his name in her 
presence, consequently she never learned of his 
last fruitless visit to her home, nor she never 
learned of his desertion of his erring bride. 

Once she said to Harold, with a faint smile of 
contempt upon her thin, white face : ^^What is Mrs. 
Egipt doing at present, Harold? Do you ever 
meet her?^^ 

"Xo, mother, but I have been informed that she 
is quite ill and has been for some time,^^ he replied, 
shielding her from the knowledge of her enemy^s 
true condition. 

One day when Harold entered the room where 
she was propped in her easy chair, to have a little 
confidential chat with his mother, he found her 
looking a great deal better than usual. 

‘^Why, mother, you look so bright and well this 
morning that I think it will not be long before I 
can take you for a drive.’' 


28 o Triumphs and Failures. 

^Thank you, my dear boy. I am quite sure that 
I shall find you willing to do me the favor, and I 
will appreciate it very much now in a few days,^’ 
she replied, placing her thin, white hand upon the 
head of her ^^dear boy,” where it rested a moment 
in silent blessing, as he stooped to kiss her. 

‘^Mother, there are some letters for you, and 
now 'that you are strong enough to read them, I 
will give them to you,” he continued, placing a 
package of letters in her hand. 

^^Why did you not read them before, Harold? 
They many contain something important,” she 
said, as she looked them over. 

^‘^Will you please read them for me now, Har- 
old?” she asked, returning the package to him. 

^^Certainly, mother, if you wish it.” 

He broke the seal of the most important-looking 
one, and as he glanced over the first lines, he ex- 
claimed, ^^Why, mother, this is from the lawyer 
who has charge of your Depredation case. And he 
has won it,” and he sprang to his feet in his ex- 
citement. 

^^Do not get excited, my boy,” remonstrated Mrs. 
Granville, laying a restraining hand upon the arm 
of the excited young man, ^Tut sit down here close 
beside me, and read it, that we may fully under- 
stand.” 

Harold obeyed, and when he had finished he 
said, ^^How, mother, you will not be compelled to 
live in this poor way any longer.” 

^Tt will be a greater relief to know that my Har- 
old shall be relieved from some of the hardships 
that he has so bravely withstood than to have the 
change myself,” she replied warmly. 


28 i 


Fortune Smiles Again. 

mother, do not say that, for it is yon 
who need it, not I. For I am j^onng and strong, 
you see, and have done nothing more than my 
duty,’’ he replied, firmly. 

^ Young and strong,’ ” she repeated, ^^and brave, 
noble and true !” she added, with a smile of affec- 
tion. 

“Now, Harold, I will have you do me a favor. 
To-morrow you may drive to C to see the law- 

yer, and if ever3rthing is in readiness for the pay- 
ment of the money I will have you bring the law- 
yer and also Doctor Maynard home with you. 
But if it is not in readiness you need not have them 
come, and when I am stronger I will go myself 
and attend to it.” 

Harold was upon the verge of asking why she 
wished to have Doctor Maynard come, but upon 
second thought he remembered the eccentricities 
of his mother, and decided that it was something 
important, else she would not require it to be done. 
And he said to himself, “Mother never bothers with 
trifles, and I am quite sure she knows what she is 
about.” 

Early the following morning Harold left home 

and drove to C , where Mr. Eoxall, the lawyer, 

resided. The old gentleman was highly pleased 
when he learned that his handsome visitor was one 
and the same person as the Harold Le Barre who 
had in other days frollicked round his office in boy- 
ish glee. 

^%hy, my boy, how you have changed !” he ex- 
claimed. “And pray tell me about your mother. 
Wonderful woman she is, to be sure.” 

Harold stated that his mother had been dan- 


202 Triumphs and Failures. 

gerously ill (but carefully avoiding the nature of 
her illness), which explained their tardiness in re- 
plying to his communication. 

am here,” he continued, ^^as my mother’s rep- 
resentative. She wishes to know if everything is in 
readiness for the payment of the money, and if it 
is, she desires to have you accompany me home, that 
she may adjust the matter there, since she is still 
unable to leave her room.” 

‘‘Yes, yes, my boy, everything is in readiness, and 
has been this long time,” he replied. 

“When do you go ?” he added. 

“In the morning, Mr. Eoxall, if it pleases you 
to go so soon,” was the reply. 

“The sooner the better, my boy, for this mat- 
ter should have had attention some time since,” 
said Mr. Eoxall. 

“Your mother doubtless realizes its importance, 
else she would not have summoned me to her 
home,” he added. 

“Very well, Mr. Eoxall, I will call for you at 
seven in the morning,” and with a few other inci- 
dental remarks, Harold left the office. 

The following morning at the appointed hour, 
Harold and Mr. Eoxall drove out of the town of 

C , and the former felt a great relief when his 

back was again turned upon it, for it awakened in 
his breast bitter memories of bygone days, which 
he would fain have buried with the past, never to 
be resurrected again. 

They drove to Doctor Ma^mard’s, and after hav- 
ing secured his consent to accompany them, they 
proceeded on their way, each wondering in his own 
mind at the extraordinary freak of Mrs. Gran- 


Fortune Smiles Again* 283 

ville in sending for the physician, when she was 
convalescing so nicely. 

They reached their destination about four o’clock 
in the afternoon. The three gentlemen entered the 
house together, for Harold could scarcely restrain 
his anxiety concerning the welfare of his mother 
during his absence. 

They found the convalescent in her accustomed 
place by the window, and altogether, looking very 
comfortable* 

^TIow are you, mother ?” inquired Harold, bend- 
ing over her tenderly, and returning the affection- 
ate kiss which she gave him. 

^^ery well, my boy,” she replied. "How is it 
with you?” 

"I am feeling quite well, mother, I assure you, 
since I am convinced of your well-being,” replied 
the young man, as he left the room, leaving her 
alone with Doctor Maynard and Mr. Koxall. 

After the usual greeting Doctor Maynard in- 

?uired after the health of his patient, and was in- 
ormed by her that she was rapidly regaining her 
health, thanks to his skillful care. 

'^ut, my dear Mrs. Granville, why am I sum- 
moned here, since you are on the road to such rapid 
recovery?” inquired the now thoroughly puzzled 
physician. 

"I just wanted you here to vouch for my sanity. 
Doctor Maynard,” she replied, smilingly, and with 
a wave of her hand which commanded him to be 
silent, which he reluctantly did. 

She then turned to the lawyer, who was watching 
her intently, and said: ^^e have had rather pleas- 
ant news from you, Mr. Eoxall, and I presume by 


284 Triumphs and Failures. 

your compliance with my request for you to come 
here that everything is as it should be.” 

Mr. Eoxall replied in the affirmative and she 
continued : 

will now explain to you, gentlemen, why I 
have called you here. In the first place, I will say 
to Doctor Maynard that I am to come in possession 
of a large sum of money, and that I wish you to 
bear witness to my mental condition, when I shall 
make my final disposal of it. And to you, Mr. 
Eoxall, that as soon as the money shall have been 
paid to me I wish to have you write my last will 
and testament,” she said, in a very calm and self- 
possessed manner. 

The two men looked at each other in surprise. 
Surprised they were indeed that she should take 
this very extraordinary precaution, and surprised 
that she wished to settle it so quickly after receiv- 
ing it. But they said not a word, and Mr. Eoxall 
drew from his handbag some writing material and 
prepared for action. 

In a few moments the transfer of the Govern- 
ment papers had been made, and Mrs. Granville 
was the possessor of twenty-five thousand dollars, 
the remainder of the amount collected having been 
paid to Mr. Eoxall for his services. 

^^Now, Mrs. Granville, I am ready for the other 
work. You will please proceed to give me an ac- 
count of what you would have me do,” said Mr. 
Eoxall. 

Mrs. Granville began in her cool, deliberate man- 
ner, and stated what was her desire. When she 
reached one point in her recital, she paused 


Fortune Smiles Again. 285 

abruptly, and requested Mr. Eoxall to supply her 
with pencil and paper, which he did. 

Then the thin, trembling fingers traced a few 
lines, and passed them to him, and he read it. 

^^hy, Mrs. Granville, do you really wish to 
have that inserted exclaimed Mr. Eoxall, in sur- 
prise, as he placed the slip of paper in the hand of 
Doctor Maynard. 

Doctor Maynard read it, and was not surprised, 
for he understood all. 

When the work was completed Mrs. Granville 
extended an invitation to the two gentlemen to re- 
main to tea, which they willingly did. 

When tea was over they drove home. 

Feeble as was Mrs. Granville, she could not long 
remain in possession of twenty-five thousand dol- 
lars without laying plans and making suggestions 
in her own mind for its investment, and many and 
varied were the propositions considered by her, 
while she sat quietly awaiting her returning 
strength. 

She soon became strong enough, that she began 
taking a drive each day with Harold, for he would 
trust no one else to accompany her. 

After about two weeks of this she had strength 
enough that she preferred driving alone that she 
might become accustomed to it, and a month 
after the visit of Doctor Maynard and Mr. Eoxall 
she was so well that she announced herself as ready 
for duty again. 

^^My dear boy,” she said to Harold, one day, ^^we 
have foen doing business on a very small scale for 
the past three years, and since good fortune has 
made it possible for us to do better, we must take 


286 Triumphs and Failures. 

advantage of it. Twenty-five thousand is not a 
great deal unless we make good use of it.’^ 

‘^Very well, mother, you will find me an ardent 
assistant, although I cannot quite agree with the 
idea of twenty-five thousand being so small an 
amount. I think it a great deal indeed,^^ he re- 
plied, laughingly. 

can always depend upon you, Harold,” she 
replied. 

^‘Well, since I have known that it was possible 
for us to make a change, I have been taking ob- 
servations, and considering different business prop- 
ositions,” she continued. ^‘1 have been watching 
the papers closely, and have learned by them that 

there is a good opening for an investment in C , 

and I shall go at once to investigate.”- 

^Then you contemplate returning to C , 

mother ?” 

‘^Yes, Harold, I just want to show those people 
there that after all their maltreatment and law- 
breaking I can yet surpass any of them,” she re- 
plied, bitterly. 

‘^ere I to follow my own inclinations in a do- 
mestic way I should remain right here and build 
for myself another home, as nearly like dear, beau- 
tiful Maple Grove in Iowa as could possibly be, but 
it is not best for either you or the children,” she 
continued, refiectively. 

“Mother, I believe that you still love Maple 
Grove, and Iowa, better than any other spot in the 
world, and why not go back there and purchase 
your old home again for your own sake ?” 

“It would recall just as many sorrows and revive 


Fortune Smiles Again. 287 

just as many bitter memories, as any other place, 
and it is not best for you.” 

“But you must consider your own happiness and 
comfort, mother.” 

“Your prosperity shall be my happiness, and 
your comfort shall be my comfort! It is surely 
best for us to go to C Harold,” she replied. 

^^Of course, mother, I do not wish to oppose, 
I only want you to do whatever will make you the 
happiest.” 

“Remember, Harold,” she continued, after a mo- 
ments silence,” that my object is to alleviate the 
hardships which you have borne so bravely the past 
three years. I shall spare no pains to make your 
life comfortable.” 

“I was not thinking of the past, mother. I was 
only thinking of the change. When it was neces- 
sary that we live in a poor way, and labor hard, I 
tried to do it cheerfully. I am only thankful that 
is no longer a necessity,” he replied, with infinite 
relief. 

“It was not only ^cheerfully’ done, but it was 
nohly and generoicsly performed,” she replied, with 
great warmth. 

“However it was done, mother, it was only my 
duty to you, and I am deserving of no eulogies, or 
commendations whatever,” he said. 

“How, Harold, I will give you my plans. You 
may undertake the sale of this lease that I hold 
here, and also the personal effects, while I shall 
endeavor to make satisfactory arrangements fo^ us 

in C . I will drive there to-morrow, and you 

may just as speedily begin your part of the pro- 
gram, for there is no use in wasting time.” 


288 Triumphs and Failures. 

mother, that will be very trying to you, 
and you had best remain at home and let me go in 
your stead/’ he remonstrated. 

^^No, Harold, you will have plenty to do here and 
it will do me no harm whatever,” she replied. 

^Ht will possibly, and quite probably, require 

several trips to C to consummate any plans I 

shall have formed, and we haven’t the time to spare 
for both you and I to go,” she continued, as she 
noticed the look of disapproval upon Harold’s 
face. 

^^Why, I feel almost as young and strong as I 
did a score of years ago. Harold has positively be- 
come childish about me since my last-illness,” she 
said to herself, as she left him. 

The following morning Mrs. Granville entered 

her carriage to drive to C , after having given 

various instructions to Harold concerning the 
business left in his care. 

"I can manage the work nicely, mother, but I 
should be very much pleased if you would allow 
me to accompany you,” he ventured to remark 
again. 

^‘Oh, I shall get on safely alone. I wish to push 
this work through speedily, and we can save so 
much time by working separately,” she replied, 
and with a pleasant ‘%ood-by” upon her lips, and 
an affectionate wave of her hand, she drove away. 

H will return by three o’clock, day after the 
morrow, Harold,” she called to him as she looked 
back and saw him still watching her. 


The Last Deal. 


289 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE LAST DEAL. 

The third day of Mrs. Granville’s absence was 
swiftly passing away to join the unnumbered days 
of eternity, and the sun was fast sinking to rest 
when Harold Le Barre returned home after a very 
busy day. 

^‘Mother will be home by the time I shall arrive, 
and I know she will be pleased with my success,” 
he said to himself, as he rode along, but when he 
reached home he found to his surprise that she had 
not returned. 

^^Grace, I will ride to the river to meet mother, 
for it is growing late, and she may need some as- 
sistance in fording the stream,” he said, for he 
was really alarmed at her delay. 

When he reached the river and rode down to the 
water’s edge his heart almost stood still, for he 
noticed tiny white flecks floating upon the water, 
which, to an experienced eye, told a tale of danger, 
and gave a silent warning to the traveler not to 
venture into its awful trap of destruction. 

^‘The river is up,” he gasped to himself. 

"Oh, can it be possible that — no, I cannot allow 
myself to think ! It is too terrible ! Perhaps she 
has not come yet!” 


290 Triumphs and Failures. 

And with the fierce battle between this faint 
hope and the agonizing feeling of the terrible truth, 
he rode down the stream, watching the bright little 
danger signals as they sped along on their errand 
of mercy. 

“Oh, my God ! I know the worst now ! My fears 
are confirmed, for there are the horses,^^ he cried 
aloud in his bitter anguish. 

Yes, there were the horses lodged a short dis- 
tance down the stream, still attached to the over- 
turned carriage, drowned. 

Harold summoned aid at once, and a vigorous 
search was begun. They had no difficp.lty in find- 
ing the object of their melancholy quest, for it was 
only a few feet from the lifeless bodies of the 
horses, and evidently the accident had occurred 
only a few moments before Harold’s arrival upon 
the scene. 

Poor Harold’s heart was rent with anguish as 
he saw the limp, inanimate form of his dear old 
mother lifted from the cold embrace of the treach- 
erous water, and saw the snowy hair entangled 
with tiny drift and bits of weed fall loosely about 
her lifeless shoulders, for it vividly recalled to his 
mind the occasion upon which those beautiful 
tresses had changed the rich brown hue for one 
that silently told the tale of sorrow, too profound 
for the w^eak fountains of this life to heal. 

Tenderly they bore her to the bereaved and deso- 
lated home, and quietly and solemnly they placed 
her in the chamber of the dead. 

Harold spent a long, long time alone with his- 
dead. Yes, it was his dead, for who had ever 
shared as many of her sorrows, and had ever loved 


The Last Deal. 


291 


her as he had done? When he entered the silent;, 
shadowed chamber which was lighted only by the 
weird shadows of a lamp burning very low, and 
where the very air seemed laden with that inde- 
scribable something which we dare not attempt to 
define, he stood quite still, as if in dread of lift- 
ing the veil from the dead face lest he should dis- 
turb its awful quiet and profound repose. 

Whien at last he tenderly raised the snowy sheet 
and gently folded it back upon the lifeless breast, 
and gazed longingly and lovingly upon the dear 
face with its placid features and marble brow, a 
heavy storm of grief rent his manly spirit, such as 
is not experienced often in a lifetime, and which 
springs from the deepest sources of our natures. 

In those few terrible moments his thoughts re- 
viewed the past, and he saw her once again a young 
and beautiful woman, as he first remembered her, 
living the tranquil and serenely beautiful life of 
widowhood — a blissful peaceableness born of bitter 
sorrow ; he saw her again, as the beautiful bride of 
a man — yes, a man, who was destined to turn the 
tide of her happiness and her fortunes, and who in 
later years became the very curse of her existence ; 
and he saw her in the days of her bitter misan- 
thropy, when the dark veil was lifted and the in- 
iquity of the one whom she loved so openly con- 
fronted her, and she had denounced all men as 
evil, and when their home was utterly wrecked be- 
cause of the hatred with which the opposite sex 
looked upon her, with her ambitions and aggres- 
sive attitude toward them. 

But it is all past now. Those fiery passions, the 
iron will, the invulnerable ambitions, and the de- 


292 Triumphs and Failures. 

termined spirit, had all lain down their armor of 
defense and their powers of aggression, to the stern 
demand of Death, and were engulfed in the tre- 
mendous wave of his destruction. 

Death had summarily closed the pages of her 
triumphs in this life, and they were many and 
brilliant, but the dark pages of her failures will be 
open to the world for generations to come. The 
sweet, refining infiuence of holy mother love, and 
the pure, hallowed guardianship of the gentle fem- 
inine nature had been wrested from heryown fam- 
ily until in her home life there is room for many, 
many dark forbidding pages of disaster to be re- 
corded. 

The financial affairs of the deceased were left in 
perfect order, for she had taken every precaution 
that her property should not revert to undeserving 
parties. Her entire fortune was bequeathed to 
Harold Le Barre, with the exception of enough to 
Algernon Forresman to prevent him contesting the 
will, should he be inclined to do so. She further 
provided that he, Harold Le Barre, should edu- 
cate and provide for Grace Forresman until her 
marriage, and also to educate Horace and Mark 
Forresman so far as they would receive it. And 
further, that Sarah, the faithful servant, should 
be comfortably provided for by him. 

Harold was very much distressed when he 
learned the terms of the will, but a few years con- 
vinced him of the wisdom of it. 

Eight years have passed away. Horace and Mark 
Forresman are nearing manhood, but they have 
both inherited the idleness of their father, and to- 


The Last Deal. 


*93 


gether with the few years spent without guide or 
counsel, had wrecked their young lives, and they 
can never attain the grace of manhood that might 
have been theirs had a different influence been 
wielded about them. 

Harold Le Barre kept a portion of the property 
for Algernon Forresman, the ^^outcast,” but he 
never appeared upon the scene to claim it. 

Little Grace Forresman is now Mrs. Le Barre, 
and is also the mother of a dainty miss of three 
summers, whose name is Salenna. But her beau- 
tiful mama says that she would not wish Salenna 
Le Barre to be as strong willed and ambitious as 
was Salenna Granville. 


THE END. 





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